Last Sunday, President Herzog stood with thousands in Hostage Square calling for the release of the hostages. At the same time he strongly derided western leaders for being a “bunch of hypocrites.”
No doubt Herzog, the former leader of Israel’s Labour Party was referring to his fellow Labour leaders Starmer, Carney, fellow traveller Macron and Albanese. These leaders all have one thing in common: facing an aggressive and vociferous growing Muslim population that they believe they must appease, an unsustainable fertility rate, terror threats , increasing violent crime, divided societies, stagnant economies, growing homelessness, and the war in Ukraine. And to their shame, rampant unabated antisemitism.
As Mayor Lueger discovered in his native Vienna 120 years ago, populism combined with antisemitism rakes in votes, so Starmer, Carney, Macron and Albanese have shamelessly played the Israel card, as their domestic antisemitism fuelled by lies and conspiracy theories continues to spiral out of control.
On the other side of the world, Australia’s Prime Minister Albanese and his Foreign Minister Penny Wong have decided to make Australia’s voice relevant -but on the wrong side of law, history and morality. At university, Penny Wong was a member of the Socialist Workers Party while Albanese, the first person in his family to finish high school, joined the Labor Party. Both belong to the Left Faction of the Labor Party and have a history of hostility towards Israel.
In 1998 Albanese made a PLO sponsored trip to Ramallah and met Arafat together with other Labor politicians followed by a PLO dinner in Gaza. At the time of the second Intifada in 2000, Albanese joined anti -Israel demonstrations, where he made speeches while Israeli flags were burned.
When the Albanese Govt first came to power in 2022, they needlessly changed a balanced policy and declared that “West” Jerusalem no longer would be recognised as Israel’s capital.
Some weeks after the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led massacre in Israel, the Biden administration led an international effort that produced a statement condemning Jew-hatred . Nearly three dozen countries signed. This was a few weeks after a large Muslim crowd on the steps of Sydney’s Opera House chanted “Gas the Jews.” However Australia declined to sign despite the declaration requiring no action.
Penny Wong did visit Israel and the “occupied” territories in January 2024, but unlike other foreign leaders refused to visit the Kibbutzim where the massacres took place. Albanese declined to visit Israel but has made four visits to China! Despite being a close ally of the US, Albanese has not been invited to visit the White House and presently the US has no ambassador in Canberra. The embarrassment does not seem to affect him too much. His obsession with Israel is high up on his to-do list.
When 100,000 people marched across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge on 3 August, labelled a “peace march,” Albanese pretended it was just that, despite chants of Death to the IDF, Death to Netanyahu, a poster of Khamenei holding a rifle, a black ISIS type flag and more.
Albanese then was featured on TV repeating how “heartbroken” he was about the emaciated child having “died of starvation” in Gaza (he actually died of a pre-existing genetic disorder.) Albanese emotionally milked the event for all it was worth, but never retracted his blood libel.
After joining Macron et al’s recognition of “Palestine,” Albanese went to New Zealand and suddenly its PM Luxon also was leaning towards recognising the “State of Palestine.” Luxon further said that Netanyahu had “lost the plot.”
Denmark’s PM Mette Frederiksen called Netanyahu “the problem.” Not Hamas. And not her own country labelled as Europe’s rape capital or neighbour Sweden enduring one bombing per day. With an increasing militant Muslim population in his own country, Albanese regularly phones Starmer, Carney and others to incite pressure on Israel.
Albanese and Wong know that the recognition of the “State of Palestine” does not pass the Montevideo Convention legal requirements of statehood. Their real agenda is to weaken and isolate Israel diplomatically, to topple Netanyahu and promote the demise of Israel through sanctions and other forms of pressure.
Israeli senior leaders from Ayelet Shaked to Simcha Rothman and others have been denied visas to address the Jewish community. Now Israel has finally reacted and shown Australia that there would be consequences. Australian representatives to “Palestine” in Ramallah (who live in trendy Tel Aviv!) have had their visas revoked.
Astonishingly the Executive Council of Australia, criticised Netanyahu for his “unacceptable “letter to Albanese and further stated that Australian Jews do not feel abandoned by their government. In fact, there has been a sharp increase in anti-Semitic assaults and boycotts while Jewish schools, synagogues , seniors homes, and community centres have increased security with armed guards and other measures which no other community experiences.
In 2018, Peter Dutton, then Australia’s Home Affairs Minister confirmed that Israeli intelligence tipped off Australia that there was a bomb about to be smuggled onto an Etihad Airlines plane taking off from Sydney International Airport. Hundreds of Australian lives were saved.
Israel has warned Starmer that it may no longer share intelligence with the UK.
Has Albanese wondered if Israel may respond to Australia’s unabated hostility, international incitement and uncontrolled domestic antisemitism with similar measures? If so, how would the Australian public feel that “Palestine“ is more important than the lives of Australians?
Ron J.Hutter is the author of the satire on antisemitism” The Trombone Man: Tales of a Misogynist”