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Netanyahu doubles down on Albanese attack despite Australian Jewish group urging calm Netanyahu doubles down on Albanese attack saying he has ‘forever tarnished’ his reputation
(about 11 hours later)
Israeli prime minister ignores pleas to resolve dispute with Australia through ‘diplomacy rather than public posturing’ Speaking to Sky News, Israel’s prime minister ratchets up diplomatic row by saying Albanese has shown ‘weakness’ in the face of ‘Hamas terrorist monsters’
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Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored pleas from Australian Jewish groups to calm his feud with Anthony Albanese, further criticising the prime minister and escalating an ugly spat between the two leaders. Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his criticism of Anthony Albanese as a “weak” leader amid a bitter row, claiming the Australian prime minister has “forever tarnished” his reputation.
Australia’s peak Jewish group, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), on Wednesday labelled Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s attack on Albanese as “inflammatory and provocative”, and a “clumsy intervention” which had affected Australia’s Jewish community. Tensions between the Netanyahu and Albanese government have escalated this week following the cancellation of a visa for far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman to visit Australia, culminating in a week-long diplomatic jousting match.
ECAJ’s president, Daniel Aghion, wrote letters to both leaders, critical of the conduct of Albanese and Netanyahu and urging a resolution “in the usual way through diplomacy rather than public posturing”. The group’s co-executive, Alex Ryvchin, had additionally called for “both governments to remember what’s at stake to ensure that calm heads prevail and to conduct their matters of state privately, diplomatically”. In an interview with Sky News commentator Sharri Markson on Thursday night, the Israeli prime minister said Albanese’s record is “forever tarnished” after announcing his intention to recognise a Palestinian state.
But in a new interview with Sky News, Netanyahu again labelled Albanese “weak”. “I’m sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,” Netanyahu said.
“I’m sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,” he said, in a clip broadcast by Sky. “It is wrong because to offer [Hamas] a state, when they had a state, a de facto state in Gaza, and they used it for murder, pillage and monstrous crimes is to reward terrorism, and I think that’s a sign of weakness, that, as I said, will tarnish the prime minister’s record.”
“When the worst terrorist organisation on earth, these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burned babies alive in front of their parents, took hundreds of hostages, when these people congratulate the prime minister of Australia, you know something is wrong.” The health minister, Mark Butler, described Netanyahu’s comments to Sky News as “frankly ridiculous”, adding Australia would not change its position “because of a particular position taken by any other world leader”.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email The fresh comments came a day after Australia’s peak Jewish group, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), labelled Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s attack on Albanese as “inflammatory and provocative”, and a “clumsy intervention” which had affected Australia’s Jewish community.
The full interview will be broadcast on Thursday night. Albanese initially played down Netanyahu’s first statement on Wednesday, in which he described the Australian prime minister as a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews”.
When Albanese’s office was contacted for comment, a spokesperson referred Guardian Australia to the prime minister’s statement on Wednesday, where Albanese said he wouldn’t take Netanyahu’s comments personally. “I don’t take these things personally. I engage with people diplomatically, he [Netanyahu] has had similar things to say about other leaders,” he said.
“We had a long discussion prior to the cabinet meeting which was held last Monday morning. At that time, I gave prime minister Netanyahu a clear indication of my view and Australia’s view going forward … I gave him the opportunity to outline what political solution there was,” Albanese told reporters. The 16-minute interview on Thursday night canvassed a number of issues, including a two-state solution and the humanitarian and aid crisis in Gaza.
“I don’t take these things personally. I engage with people diplomatically, he [Netanyahu] has had similar things to say about other leaders.” Netanyahu said Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, which follows similar decisions by the UK, France and Canada, was “appeasement” to Hamas, comparing the move to Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938.
In a statement distributed by the Palestinian delegation to Australia, the Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs called Netanyahu’s criticism of Australia and France in recent days “unjustifiable and hostile to peace”. “We’re not going to repeat that,” he said.
“The Ministry affirms that conflating recognition of the State of Palestine with antisemitism and interfering in the internal affairs of France and Australia is unjustifiable, hostile to peace, and contrary to the international consensus on the principle of the two-state solution,” it said. “They want to put Israel at tremendous risk by giving this strategic piece of land right next to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, to these Palestinians who want to destroy Israel, they don’t even hide it … we’re not going to repeat the mistakes that were made prior to world war two.”
Thursday’s comments from Netanyahu are the latest in an escalating row between Australia and Israel. It followed Australia’s pledge to recognise a Palestinian state, joining the vast majority of countries to recognise statehood, and Australia speaking more strongly amid a chorus of international condemnation of Israel’s deadly military campaign in Gaza, which has seen the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. The shadow defence minister, Angus Taylor, told Sky Albanese’s decision to recognise Palestine showed he had “capitulated to the left of his party” and was an “unrealistic” for Israel to accept while Hamas remained in control of Gaza.
Albanese claimed Netanyahu was “in denial” at the suffering of civilians in Gaza.
Australia’s refusal of a travel visa for the far-right Knesset member Simcha Rothman stoked criticism from Jerusalem, sparking a tit-for-tat which saw Israel then revoke the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority.
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Numerous members of Netanyahu’s government have made repeated criticisms of Australia in social media statements and media interviews. Netanyahu also dismissed as “lies” reports Israel is deliberately starving the Gazan population and said media outlets reporting the humanitarian crisis “should be ashamed of themselves for propagating this”.
The growing diplomatic argument has alarmed Jewish groups in Australia. In July, the World Health Organisation warned Gazans were suffering from a man-made mass starvation caused by Israel’s blockade of aid into the territory.
ECAJ warned both leaders that Australia’s Jewish community “will not be left to deal with the fallout of a spat between two leaders who are playing to their respective domestic audiences”. UN officials reported that the Israeli military had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to reach food distribution sites between the end of May and end of July.
Aghion, in his letter to Albanese, was critical of the prime minister accusing Netanyahu of being in denial, claiming the accusation was “gratuitously insulting” and “unseemly”. Sign up: AU Breaking News email
Aghion also criticised Netanyahu for alleging Albanese had abandoned Australia’s Jews. The Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs on Wednesday called Netanyahu’s criticism of Australia and France in recent days “unjustifiable and hostile to peace”.
“These comments have played straight into the hands of opponents of Israel and antisemites, to the detriment of the Australian Jewish community,” Aghion wrote. “The ministry affirms that conflating recognition of the state of Palestine with antisemitism and interfering in the internal affairs of France and Australia is unjustifiable, hostile to peace, and contrary to the international consensus on the principle of the two-state solution,” it said.
“Had we been consulted, we would have warned against such a clumsy intervention into Australia’s domestic politics. The charge of antisemitism, whether made directly or indirectly, is a serious one and never to be made lightly.” France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, had hit back at Netanyahu’s claim antisemitism was rising in the country as “erroneous” and “abject”, adding it “will not go unanswered”.
Alex Ryvchin, ECAJ’s co-chief executive, also disagreed with some of Netanyahu’s comments, saying the Jewish community had concerns about the government’s handling of antisemitic incidents but “we’ve never felt abandoned”. On Tuesday, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced he would revoke the visas of three Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority working in the West Bank city of Ramallah following Australia’s decision to cancel Rothman’s visa.
Sa’ar accused the Australian government of “choosing to fuel” antisemitism through the decision against the backdrop of its intention to recognise a Palestinian state.
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, labelled the reaction “unjustified” at a time when “dialogue and diplomacy are needed more than ever”.
The foreign affairs department’s Smartraveller site was updated on Thursday to confirm Australia’s operations in Ramallah had been suspended as a result.
“Our ability to provide consular assistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is extremely limited,” it said.
“Australians in need of consular assistance should contact the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv or Australian Embassy in Jordan.”