The results of Australia’s election Saturday night, which saw Tony Abbott’s Liberal Party sweep into power, are expected to result in stronger relations between Canberra and Jerusalem:

Abbott has said he wants to return bilateral relations to the era of former Liberal leader John Howard, who was an unapologetic supporter of Israel.

“I’d like to think that nowhere in the world [does Israel] have a stauncher friend than us,” Abbott told an Australia-Israel forum in Melbourne when he was first elected party leader in 2009.

Abbott had been enthusiastic about describing himself as “a friend of Israel – always have been, always will be,” and he criticized Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government for allowing bilateral relations to slip.

Further down on the ballot list, the Green Party found itself scrambling to address accusations that some of its members supported efforts to boycott Israel, a position that became a political liability in local elections. Australian media reported last month that a future government “would also take a harder line against the ‘boycott, divestment and sanctions’ campaign against Israel.”

[Photo: Bidgee / Wiki Commons]