Some ideas are so obvious you wonder why no one thought of them before. The annual Australia Israel UK Leadership Dialogue is one of them.
Originally a meeting of Australian and Israeli leaders — defined as politicians, thinkers and journalists — the addition of UK delegates has lifted the two-day forum into a sort of Israeli Königswinter Conference.
This week’s meeting in London, at Portcullis House, was the most interesting so far. Graced with high-calibre Israelis — such as Ehud Olmert and Avi Dichter — and Australians including opposition leader Tony Abbott and a host of MPs and senators, the group grappled with issues such as Iran, the future of the two-state solution and the Arab Spring.
But as ever with these gatherings, much of the real value is in the conversations off-piste.
