‘Disappointing': Labor responds to Israel sledge

Perth Now

2 hours ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashing out at Anthony Albanese is a 'disappointing' but the government is 'not going to get into a tit-for-tat', a Labor minister says.
Mr Netanyahu overnight called the Prime Minister a 'weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews'.
Housing Minister Clare O'Neil was the first senior government official to front media on Wednesday.
She said the comments were uncalled for. Israeli Prime Minister has called Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 'weak'. Credit: NewsWire
'Anthony Albanese is unfailingly polite in his dealings with international leaders and he
strong stance as he is done here with this particular matter,' Ms O'Neil told Seven.
'We've got a really clear agenda here as we involve ourselves in this conflict involve ourselves in this conflict in the Middle East.
'We know that the Australian people want to see an end to senseless violence and killing and they particularly want to see an end to the forced starvation and killing of innocent to do with this conflict and the government is (working with) countries around the world like Canada, France and the UK to try bring that about.'
She added that Mr Netanyahu 'has had similar things to say about other global leaders with whom he has a disagreement'.
'This kind of diplomacy is never effective and that's why the Australian government doesn't engage,' she said.
More to come