Albo's antisemitism challenge
There is no shortage of countries distancing themselves from Israel on the international stage, but there is a reason why Benjamin Netanyahu has singled out Australia.
Many supporters of Israel in Australia have been reluctant to separate Australia’s national interest from Israel’s, expressing outrage at Australia’s position on the United Nations resolution demanding Israel immediately end its occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the denial of a visa to former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked.
This is despite Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never standing up for Australia when he was cosying up to Xi Jinping and Beijing was slapping billions of dollars of trade sanctions on Canberra. And Netanyahu didn’t say a bad word about Vladimir Putin when he invaded Ukraine in 2022, because of the strategic interests he had at stake with Russia in Syria.
Not that Canberra ever publicly rebuked Israel for its lack of support, mindful that it lives in a dangerous part of the world and defines its national interests much more narrowly. Despite this, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have copped it from Netanyahu for not sufficiently supporting his divisive government.
But it is in Australia, not Israel or the UN, where Albanese will ultimately be judged for his national leadership. Where Jewish schools and synagogues have needed to employ armed guards since the October 7 terror attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza. Where Jewish Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus conceded on Monday that antisemitism is at the highest he's experienced in his lifetime. Where former Victorian Labor Minister Philip Dalidakis, who is also Jewish, this week said warnings about the inevitability of escalating violence as antisemitism rose over the past 14 months “seem to have been ignored”, adding that those responsible for public safety had dropped the ball.
