Australia’s government defended its efforts to combat antisemitism on Saturday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked the Australian government’s policies with the arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, Reuters reported.
Netanyahu on Friday published a statement condemning the arson attack on the Melbourne synagogue and linking it to the Australian government’s position on Israel.
"The burning of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne is an abhorrent act of antisemitism. I expect the state authorities to use their full weight to prevent such antisemitic acts in the future,” said Netanyahu.
“Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia, including the scandalous decision to support the UN resolution calling on Israel ‘to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible’, and preventing a former Israeli minister from entering the country,” added Netanyahu, in a reference to Australia's decision to refuse a visa to former Minister Ayelet Shaked.
“Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism," stressed Netanyahu.
In response, Murray Watt, Australia’s minister for employment and workplace relations, emphasized the government’s actions to fight antisemitism. He highlighted initiatives such as $25 million in funding for security upgrades at Jewish sites, including schools, as well as legislation banning the Nazi salute and efforts to crack down on hate speech.
“The Albanese Government has taken a range of strong actions to stand against antisemitism and to stamp it out from our community,” Watt said, adding, “I respectfully disagree with Prime Minister Netanyahu on this matter,” according to a transcript of his remarks in Brisbane.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack on the synagogue, stating, "I have zero tolerance for antisemitism. It has absolutely no place in Australia. This violence and intimidation and destruction at a place of worship is an outrage. This attack has risked lives and is clearly aimed at creating fear in the community. The people involved must be caught and face the full force of the law."
He added, "This deliberate, unlawful attack goes against everything we are as Australians and everything we have worked so hard to build as a nation.”
The attack on the synagogue in Melbourne is the latest in a string of antisemitic incidents, which have surged in Australia, as well as other countries around the world, since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Last week, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) published a report which found that Australian Jews experienced more than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents over the past year, more than quadruple the number from the previous year.
The report found that a total of 2,062 incidents of antisemitism were recorded between October 2023 and September 2024, far more than the 495 incidents noted a year earlier.
Previous examples of antisemitism in Australia include a 44-year-old Jewish man who was beaten by three pro-Palestinian Arab demonstrators in Sydney in November of last year.
In June of this year, antisemitic vandals set fire to the office of Jewish Member of Parliament Josh Burns. The vandals smashed windows and set a fire at the front of the office. The words ''Zionism is fascism" were written on the office wall in red paint.