By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY, Dec 15 (Reuters) – The deadly attack on a Jewish festival at a famed Australian beach has deepened diplomatic tensions between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Israeli counterpart, as domestic pressure mounted for his government to respond to antisemitism.
Albanese called for unity on Monday and said his government was prepared to take whatever action is necessary, after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Albanese “did nothing” to curb antisemitism, rising since 2023.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Jewish community leaders also expressed dismay.
“There has been a shocking level of antisemitism that has been rearing its head in this country as it has in other countries,” Levi Wolff, lead rabbi with Sydney’s Central Synagogue, told Reuters at Bondi Beach where his friend was killed on Sunday.
“When antisemitism goes unchecked from the top, these are the things that happen.”
At a press briefing, Albanese read through a list of actions his government had taken, including criminalising hate speech and incitement to violence and a ban on the Nazi salute.
Funding for physical security for Jewish community groups would be extended, he pledged, and pointed to the need for tougher gun laws in Australia, which already has among the world’s most restrictive firearms curbs.
Yet a special envoy appointed by the government last year to tackle a spate of graffiti and arson attacks on synagogues and Jewish businesses said Sunday’s terrorist attack “did not come without warning”, and more action was needed.
“The writing has been on the wall,” the envoy, Jillian Segal, said in a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday.
‘EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE’
The leader of Australia’s conservative Liberal opposition party said Labor had allowed antisemitism to “fester”.
“Everything must change from today in how governments respond,” Liberal leader Sussan Ley told a press conference, adding Albanese must implement all of the recommendations in a report issued by Segal in July, including a focus on university campuses.
Standing with Segal when the report was released in July, Albanese had condemned antisemitism as an “evil scourge”, and said his government would spend A$25 million to boost security at Jewish community sites, including schools, among other measures.
It was also important to separate antisemitism from legitimate criticism of the Netanyahu government’s actions, Albanese had said, noting he and other international leaders had criticised Israel.
“You should be able to express your view here in Australia about events overseas. Where the line has been crossed is in blaming and identifying people because they happen to be Jewish,” he said in July.
Along with calling for strengthened hate crime laws, Segal wanted tougher screening of visa applicants for antisemitic views, and a focus on universities, cultural bodies and broadcasters.
Australia’s race discrimination commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman was among critics who said some proposals raised human rights concerns, and all racism was a scourge.
According to 2021 census data, there are around 116,967 Australians with Jewish identity, or 0.46% of the national population of 25 million, mostly living in inner Sydney and Melbourne.
PROTESTS AGAINST ISRAEL
The Labor government has been mindful of Australia’s multicultural society, including the numerous and electorally powerful migrant community from Lebanon.
Since 2023, NSW state police have allowed weekly protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza through Sydney.
Tensions between Australia and Israel have been high since August, when Israel revoked the visas of Australian diplomats in the occupied Palestinian territories, which Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said then was an “unjustified reaction, following Australia’s decision to recognise Palestine”.
Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador the same month, after intelligence agencies attributed at least two antisemitic arson attacks to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Australia’s conservative political parties had been expected to announce a new immigration policy before Christmas, as they face pressure from the populist anti-migration One Nation, which has rocketed up opinion polls in recent months.
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson told 4BC radio on Monday that government weakness on border policy was to blame for the Bondi attack.
“We have to take a strong stand on who we bring into the country,” she said.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke said the alleged 24-year-old gunman was born in Australia, while his father, who was the second suspected shooter and died in the attack, was a resident who came to Australia in 1998.
He also pointed to the hero bystander, Ahmed al Ahmed, who local media have reported is a Syrian Muslim and credited with disarming one of the gunmen.
“It is very difficult to prevent single acts of terror,” the former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who previously represented Bondi’s large Jewish community in parliament, told the ABC.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
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