TEL AVIV – Israel’s prime minister has accused his Australian counterpart of having “betrayed Israel” and “abandoned” Australia’s Jewish community, after days of growing strain between the two countries.
Benjamin Netanyahu said history would remember Anthony Albanese “for what he is: a weak politician”.
Australia barred a far-right member of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition from entering the country last week, and Israel in turn revoked the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority.
Australian Immigration Minister Tony Burke said Netanyahu was “lashing out” over Canberra recently announcing it would join the United Kingdom, France and Canada in recognizing a Palestinian state.
“Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many people you can leave hungry,” Burke told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Albanese later told reporters he does not “take these things personally”.
“I treat leaders of other countries with respect, I engage with them in a diplomatic way,” he said.
Israel’s opposition leader criticized Netanyahu’s remarks, branding them a “gift” to the Australian leader.
Yair Lapid wrote on X: “The thing that most strengthens a leader in the democratic world today is a confrontation with Netanyahu, the most politically toxic leader in the Western world. It is unclear why Bibi is rushing to give the Prime Minister of Australia this gift.”
Diplomatic tensions flared after far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman’s Australian visa was cancelled ahead of a visit to the country, where he had been due to speak at events organized by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA).
Burke told local media at the time that the government took “a hard line” on people seeking to “spread division”.
“If you are coming to Australia to spread a message of hate and division, we don’t want you here,” he said.
Last year, Burke also denied a visa to Israel’s former justice minister Ayelet Shaked, a right-wing politician who left parliament in 2022.
A few hours after the revocation of Rothman’s visa was announced, Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar said he had instructed the Israeli Embassy in Canberra to “carefully examine any official Australian visa application for entry to Israel”.He added in a post on X: “While antisemitism is raging in Australia, including manifestations of violence against Jews and Jewish institutions, the Australian government is choosing to fuel it.”
In recent months, there have been a string of antisemitic attacks in Australia – which is home to one of the world’s largest populations of Holocaust survivors per capita. (BBC)
