Neo-Nazis disrupt Aboriginal Anzac Day ceremony in Australia
Aboriginal representatives were in the middle of their traditional Welcome to Country greeting to about 50,000 people gathered at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance war memorial for the annual commemoration of Australian and New Zealand troops landing at Gallipoli in 1915. Anzac Day is a public holiday across Australia and New Zealand in honour of their war dead.
The solemn mood of the Melbourne event was broken during an address being delivered by an Aboriginal elder when a group in the crowd began to jeer and heckle. Some began shouting for the Welcome to Country to be halted but the hecklers — identified by police
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The Guardian
13 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Australian minister says ‘strength not measured by how many people you can blow up' as row with Netanyahu escalates
The Albanese government has rejected Benjamin Netanyahu's incendiary criticism and accused some Israeli politicians of 'bigoted' views about Palestinians, as the extraordinary political fight between the two nations turns uglier. Home affairs minister Tony Burke – whose refusal of a travel visa for Knesset member Simcha Rothman stoked further criticism from Jerusalem – backed in his decision and further criticised Israeli prime minister Netanyahu over the war in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been killed in Israel's military and bombing campaign. 'Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry,' Burke told Radio National on Wednesday. '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.' Burke's comments came the morning after Netanyahu escalated the standoff with Australia and condemned Australia's government directly via social media. On X, Netanyahu's office wrote, 'History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews'. Netanyahu also wrote a letter to the Albanese on Monday, accusing the prime minister of pouring 'fuel on this antisemitic fire', and condemning Australia's recognition of Palestine – which he called 'appeasement'. The letter was shared on social media by the Australian Jewish Association, a right-leaning group who had organised Rothman's planned speaking tour. Netanyahu's letter claimed there was 'Jew-hatred now stalking [Australian] streets'. It was a major ratcheting up of tensions between the two countries, following a tit-for-tat sparked by Australia's pledge to recognise a Palestinian state. Burke's department this week cancelled a visa for far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, over his past comments calling Gazan children the 'enemies' of Israel. Israel then revoked the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority. Burke confirmed to ABC radio that the decision to cancel Rothman's visa was over his comments about Gazan children and for the protection of Palestinian and Muslim Australians, and not based on his calls for the destruction of Hamas, as has been alleged by some conservative media outlets. 'If anyone wanted to come on a public speech tour, and they had those views publicly expressed about Israeli children, I would block the visa,' Burke said. 'I am going to not have a lower bar for the protection of views that are bigoted views against the Palestinian people.' Fellow government minister Clare O'Neil called Netanyahu's comments 'disappointing'. 'I think Benjamin Netanyahu is in a bit of a habit of making [such comments]. This type of diplomacy doesn't work, and that's why Australia doesn't engage with it,' she said. 'Our prime minister does us very proud on a global stage. He does it by being respectful. He does it by holding a strong position for our country. We determine our national interest, and that is how we're approaching the conflict in the Middle East.' The opposition has accused the government of deteriorating the relationship with Israel, describing it as at an all-time low. Shadow home affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, criticised Labor's decision to revoke the visa, and said while he didn't agree with all of Rothman's views, the government should not have refused the visa of a member of the Knesset. 'I think the government's failed to recognise what this cancellation would mean. This wasn't just any old visa,' he told ABC radio. Liberal backbencher Jane Hume called Burke's comments 'incendiary' and 'outrageous'. 'You can understand why [Netanyahu] would feel betrayed by Australia and by Anthony Albanese,' she said.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Albo's minister in extraordinary attack on Netanyahu after he called PM ‘weak'
Tony Burke has lashed out at Benjamin Netanyahu after the Israeli Prime Minister called Anthony Albanese a 'weak leader', with the Immigration Minister claiming 'strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up'. Netanyahu took to X on Tuesday evening to brand the Australian Prime Minister 'weak' and accused him of 'betraying Israel '. He wrote: 'History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews.' But, in a significant deepening of the diplomatic rift between the two countries, Burke claimed on Wednesday morning that 'strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many people you can leave hungry'. 'Strength is much better measured by what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done, which is when there's a decision we know Israel won't like he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu,' Burke told ABC Radio.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Read the scathing letter Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent Anthony Albanese
A letter from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has surfaced, sent just days before he launched a scathing public attack on Anthony Albanese, accusing the Australian Prime Minister of having 'abandoned Australia's Jews'. On Tuesday evening, Netanyahu took to social media to denounce Albanese as 'weak' and claimed he had 'betrayed Israel'. He wrote: 'History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews.' Following Netenyahu's comments, minister for home affairs Tony Burke snapped back. 'Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many people you can leave hungry. Strength is much better measured by what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done, which is when there's a decision we know Israel won't like he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu.' The attack follows Israel's decision to revoke the visas of Australian diplomats who engage with the Palestinian Authority. This was in retaliation for Australia's announcement to recognise Palestine as a state and its cancellation of visas for several far-right Israeli politicians, including Simcha Rothman and Ayelet Shaked. Before the public attack on Australia's prime minister, Netanyahu had sent Albanese a strongly worded letter on August 17, condemning him for failing to address what he described as an 'epidemic' of antisemitism that had 'intensified' under his leadership. 'Prime Minister, antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent. It retreats when leaders act. I call upon you to replace weakness with action, appeasement with resolve, and to do so by a clear date: the Jewish New Year, September 23, 2025,' Mr Netanyahu writes in the letter. The Israeli PM claimed Australia's announcement to support a move to recognise a state of Palestine 'rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas' s refusal to free the hostages', 'emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.' 'It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement,' Netanyahu wrote in the letter. 'Following Hamas's savage attack on the people of Israel on October 7, 2023, pro-Hamas extremists and left-wing radicals began a campaign of intimidation, vandalism and violence against Jews across the free world,' Mr Netanyahu wrote to Mr Albanese. 'In Australia, that campaign has intensified under your watch.' He went on to highlight several acts of anti-semitism against the Jewish community in Australia. 'In June, vandals defaced a historic Melbourne synagogue with graffiti praising Iran and calling to 'Free Palestine',' Mr Netanyahu wrote. 'In July, arsonists targeted the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation during Shabbat dinner, forcing twenty worshippers to flee for their lives. 'That same night, masked rioters stormed an Israeli-owned restaurant in central Melbourne, destroying property, hurling furniture and shouting 'Death to the IDF'. These are not isolated incidents. This is an epidemic.' For examples of how Albanese could support Israel, Netanyahu pointed to the US, and went on to praise president Donald Trump. 'As President Trump has shown, antisemitism can and must be confronted,' he states. 'The President is protecting the civil rights of American Jews, enforcing the law, protecting public order and prosecuting antisemitic crimes. He has also deported Hamas sympathizers and revoked the visas of foreign students who incite violence against Jews.' At the end of the tense letter, Netanyahu told Albanese: 'History will not forgive hesitation. It will honour action.' On Monday, it emerged that Australia had revoked the visa of far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman over some of his provocative comments including describing children in Gaza as enemies. Australia has also denied entry to former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked, based on anti-Palestinian comments, and Israeli advocate Hillel Fuld. In response, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said the visas of Australia's representatives to the Palestinian Authority had been revoked. He also instructed the Israel Embassy in Canberra to carefully examine any official Australian visa application for entry into Israel. The diplomatic tit-for-tat prompted Foreign Minister Penny Wong to accuse Benjamin Netanyahu of 'isolating Israel'.
