Australia stands firm in face of Israeli leader's furious attacks on Anthony Albanese
In a social media post on Tuesday night, Mr Netanyahu launched an extraordinary missive at his Australian counterpart, describing him as a "weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews".
Overnight, it also emerged that the Israeli prime minister had sent a letter to Mr Albanese, alleging that Australia's decision to recognise a Palestinian state would "pour fuel on the antisemitic fire".
"It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement," the letter obtained by Sky News and dated August 17 read.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told the ABC on Wednesday morning that Mr Netanyahu had "lashed out" at a number of countries who have issued their support for Palestinian statehood.
"Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry," he said.
"Strength is much better measured by exactly what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done, which is when there's a decision that we know Israel won't like, he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu.
"He has the conversation, he says exactly what we're intending to do, and has the chance for the objections to be made person to person."
Australian and Israel relations have progressively soured over the past year, reaching a crescendo earlier this month when Mr Albanese announced he would recognise Palestinian statehood in September.
After a call with Mr Albanese during which Australia's plan was conveyed, Mr Netanyahu told a rare media conference for foreign journalists that the development was "shameful".
Tensions flared again this week when the government confirmed it had cancelled the visa of Israeli politician Simcha Rothman — a member of Mr Netanyahu's governing coalition — days before he was due to embark on a speaking tour in Australia.
Hours after the decision was made public, Israel declared that it would revoke the visas of Australia's representatives to the Palestinian Authority.
After Mr Netanyahu's attack on Mr Albanese, Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid described it as a "gift" for Australia.
"The thing that strengthens a leader in the democratic world today most is a confrontation with Netanyahu, the most politically toxic leader in the Western world," he said in a social media post.
The "backdrop" for the decision to cancel the Australian visas, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, was both Australia's decision to recognise a Palestinian state and what he described as the "unjustified refusal" to grant Mr Rothman a visa.
Mr Burke — who, as home affairs minister, is ultimately responsible for the issuing of visas — provided an explanation for the visa ruling on Wednesday, pointing directly to comments the Israeli politician had made describing Palestinian children as the enemy.
"If anyone wanted to come on a public speaking tour and they had those views publicly expressed about Israeli children, I would block the visa," he said.
"And I am going to not have a lower bar for the protection of views that are bigoted views against the Palestinian people."
The letter revoking Mr Rothman's visa, seen by the ABC, said he had the potential to use the events he would be participating in to "promote his controversial views and ideologies, which may lead to fostering division in the community".
It cites examples of Mr Rothman claiming that children were not dying of hunger in Gaza, that those children were Israel's enemies, and that the idea of a two-state solution had "poisoned the minds of the entire world".
But Mr Rothman, in an interview with the ABC earlier in the week, claimed the sole reason he was blocked from entering Australia was because he had said: "Hamas is bad and Israel is good."
"I take the role very seriously in Australia that we have a power, or I have a power, and my delegates in the department have a power under the Migration Act, to block people from coming here if we think they will incite discord," Mr Burke said.
The opposition has blamed Labor for the deterioration in relations with Israel, describing the current status of the relationship as an "all-time low".
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Hastie on Wednesday suggested Mr Rothman should have been given more leeway in his visa application because he was an elected member of a foreign parliament.
"I'm sure he said a whole range of things that I probably wouldn't agree with, but nonetheless, he's a member of the Knesset," he said.
"I think the government's failed to recognise what this cancellation would mean. This wasn't just any old visa."
Mr Hastie did not answer directly when asked whether he believed Mr Rothman should have been granted a visa, but noted he was a "member of the Israeli parliament".
The Coalition is also opposed to Labor's decision to recognise Palestinian statehood at a United Nations meeting next month and has vowed to reverse the decision if elected in three years.
Mr Hastie argued that Labor had been selective in which visas it denied, alleging supporters of Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel had been let in to the country, while Mr Burke accused the opposition of being selective in their outrage.
"It seems that the Coalition only believe I should be rejecting people if they will cause harm to the Jewish community and not if they will cause harm to the Palestinian or Muslim community," Mr Burke said.
"I have a strong view that no matter who you are in Australia, you have a right to feel safe and to be safe. And I also have a view that words can be bullets."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Bigger properties occupied by smaller households in major housing mismatch, Cotality finds
In a reminder of how broken housing affordability and access is, new analysis highlights a major mismatch between the size of Australian homes and the number of people living in them. While the vast bulk of Australian housing is built for larger families, property research firm Cotality has found more than 60 per cent of households are made up of just one or two people. It reveals a misalignment between "who lives in our homes and the kinds of homes we're building", Cotality's head of head of Australian research Eliza Owen said in the report. "Of the lone-person households in Australia, the data suggests around 40 per cent are aged 65 and over," Ms Owen said. "The highest share of households is two people, but the highest share of housing has three bedrooms. "While there's nothing wrong with more bedrooms than people in a dwelling, there could be some inefficiencies in the way housing is being allocated," Ms Owen said. "After all, a 'traditional' family of four may have more need for a three-bedroom dwelling than a household of two people." The report cited data from the 2021 Census, which showed there were more two-person family households in three-bedroom dwellings (about 1.3 million), than three or four-person family households (about 1.1 million). Ms Owen has suggested a way to fix the "efficiency question", which she knows is not politically appealing — send a price signal. "Governments could make it more expensive to have more housing than you need, and cheaper to live in smaller housing," she wrote in her research note. She said that logic often leads to calls for tax reform including abolishing stamp duty to cheaper to move between housing, replacing it with a broad-based land tax (which raises costs the more land you own). "These options are both politically difficult as it would involve moving from a tax that applies to a small amount of voters each year who purchase property to one that will tax two thirds of voters (property owners)," she noted. Independent housing researcher Cameron Kusher, speaking to The Business in July, argued high transaction costs, namely stamp duty, discourage moving to a "better sized property" and can lead to people purchasing larger homes than they need to begin with. "People just feel like if I can get a better and bigger home sooner, that's a better outcome," he said. "If we look at what is being built, it's usually very large houses, four or five bedrooms, taking up most of the land on these new housing sites," Mr Kusher said. "A lot of it comes down to how much a piece of a property, [and] how much the land and the house, costs. "I think a lot of people are building bigger homes, thinking 'I'll spend a little bit more up-front and my family will grow into this home'. "It might just be a couple grandkids, or they're planning to have a couple of kids." He noted the effects of rapidly increasing property prices, which can leave people priced out of re-entering the market, and the fact that larger properties can be more likely to appreciate in value at a faster pace. Cotality's Ms Owen said other policy options to encourage people to move into appropriately sized homes could include reforming pension asset tests to include the value of the family home. "Strides are already being taken on the supply side to establish well-located apartments in our larger cities, that can accommodate smaller households. "But shifting demand through tax reform could help the take-up of these new homes." The government has accepted it is not on track to meet the target to build 1.2 million homes in five years, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers has stood by the ambition, despite Treasury advice it would not be met. In another recent note, Ms Owen questioned the focus of state and federal governments on speeding up building approvals to boost housing supply, warning that the construction industry simply cannot keep pace. "With completion times already above average and construction costs elevated, it seems an odd time to be incentivising more dwelling approvals and commencements," she said. Cameron Kusher argued past experience could be a guide on how to approach today's housing problems and ease the construction crunch. "Maybe we need to go back to how things were 30 or 40 years ago, where you have smaller homes and you make them easy to renovate," he told The Business. "Over time, people can actually add bedrooms, bathrooms, car parks, verandahs and all these sorts of things to add value to the home.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
John Menadue critiques Australia's media and our relationship with the United States
John Menadue has been at the heart of Australian public life for over fifty years, working for the Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke governments. He oversaw the effective end to Australia's White Australia Policy, was CEO of Qantas and set up the Centre for Policy Development. In the media he ran The Australian for Rupert Murdoch, launched the online weekly New Matilda and founded the influential public policy platform, Pearls and Irritations. Now aged ninety, John reflects on Australia's media, in particular its coverage of the war in Gaza, our attitudes to race relations, AUKUS, our relationship with the United States and how Australia is navigating its place in the world during a global power shift. Guest: John Menadue, Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations John Menadue, Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations Producer: Catherine Zengerer
SBS Australia
3 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Australian government pushes back against Netanyahu's attack on PM
Australian government pushes back against Netanyahu's attack on PM Published 20 August 2025, 9:02 am The Israeli Prime Minister has launched an explosive verbal spray on the Australian Government, directly accusing Anthony Albanese of betraying Israel. It's an online attack that has dominated Australian politics and led some key supporters of distance themselves from Benjamin Netanyahu.
