Albanese's response to blistering personal attack struck the right tone

Sydney Morning Herald

16 hours ago

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese found himself standing precipitously in the path of a potentially disastrous international storm blasting in from Israel overnight when his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu called him a 'weak' apologist for Hamas.
In a blistering letter sent in response to Australia's recognition of a Palestinian state and a diplomatic tit-for-tat visa row, the conservative Israeli leader did not hold back.
'History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews,' Netanyahu wrote.
'Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire,' the letter reads. 'It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas' refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.'
Loading
It doesn't get much more personal or damning than that, and there was a collective holding of breath as the nation waited to see how the Australian leader would respond as Australian-Israeli relations hit a new low.
When he broke his silence about noon, Albanese was measured in tone. Speaking from South Australia, he said he treated foreign leaders 'with respect' and didn't take the description of him as 'weak' personally.
'I treat leaders of other countries with respect, I engage with them in a diplomatic way,' Albanese said, declining to descend into an ugly verbal exchange with his Israeli counterpart.
The Herald supports this measured tone. There is no upside for Australia getting drawn into a personal slanging match between nations.
The latest flare-up in tensions came when Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's department cancelled a visa this week for far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, based on his views and comments that included calling Gazan children 'enemies' of Israel.
While Albanese played a straight bat, he used Burke as his attack dog.
'Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry,' Burke told ABC radio.
While many conservative commentators are appalled at the actions of the Albanese government and would back the overall sentiment of Netanyahu, if not his exact language, this is by no means universal. Some sections of the Jewish community in Australia called out Netanyahu for overstepping the mark.
Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler described Netanyahu's comments as 'entirely unhelpful and unproductive', while Alex Ryvchin of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said the Jewish community had 'never felt abandoned by this government'.
So clearly, there is a view that Netanyahu was out of line, and while there is room for debate on Labor's actions on Palestine, the reaction by the Israeli leader was disproportionate.
For now, Albanese is correct to focus on the more substantive issues, such as an immediate end to the conflict in Gaza that has dragged on for far too long, rather than play personal politics. But he must also keep pressure on the Palestinian side to uphold its end of the bargain and help ensure any future state rejects terrorism, turns away from Hamas and commits to a peaceful co-existence with its neighbour.