Israel has criticized the Australian Labor government’s “extreme anti-Israel stance” and said it is inciting attacks on Jews very similar to those by Hamas and Iran.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer made the comments on Friday in reaction to news of Australia’s vote in favor of a United Nations resolution supporting a ceasefire in Gaza a day earlier.
The 193-member United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, with 153 members in favor, 10 against – including the United States – and 23 abstentions.
In the wake of the vote, Mencer blamed Anthony Albanese’s government for anti-Semitic attacks in Australia, such as the one that occurred at the Adass Israel synagogue last week.
“Israel believes it is impossible to separate the reprehensible act of burning a synagogue, for God’s sake, from the extreme anti-Israel position of its Labor government in Australia,” he said. Sky News Australia.
‘Anti-Israel sentiment coming from the Labor government is leading to anti-Semitism. Anti-Israel rhetoric leads to attacks against Jews.
“It’s incitement, actually it’s what Hamas and Iran are also involved in. Incitement against the Jewish state leads to physical attacks against Jews.”
Mencer said that although Albanese had recently condemned anti-Semitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney, the Israeli government had not changed its view of Australia.
David Mencer said the Labor government’s anti-Israel stance is leading to attacks on Jews.
‘The proof is in the pudding and yesterday’s vote at the United Nations, which broke that bipartisan consensus in Australia, is about incitement.
‘We here in Israel are fighting a battle against barbarism, and Australia should be an ally in that battle.
‘We are winning here. Iran has been exposed, its air defenses destroyed and its proxies driven back.
‘Hezbollah has gone back decades. Assad in Syria, responsible for 500,000 deaths.
“We are winning here in Israel and we want Australia to celebrate that success, because our success is also their success in Australia.”
On Thursday, Albanese said in a joint statement with his New Zealand and Canadian counterparts that Australia supports creating a sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, but that Hamas must give up its weapons.
“We are alarmed by the decline in safe space for civilians in Gaza,” the statement said.
“The price of defeating Hamas cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians.”
On Thursday, Albanese said Australia supports creating a sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Albanese, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Luxon and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said any ceasefire “cannot be unilateral.”
“Hamas must release all hostages, stop using Palestinian civilians as human shields and lay down their weapons,” they said.
Sydney saw a series of anti-Semitic attacks in Woollahra last month, in which graffiti was sprayed on cars and buildings, including celebrity chef Matt Moran’s Chiswick restaurant, and a car was set on fire.
Since then there have been two more attacks, one involving the bombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne on December 6 as Jews gathered to pray, injuring one person, and another graffiti attack and car burning in Woollahra on December 11.
The Adass Israel synagogue fire has been declared an act of terrorism as police continue to pursue three suspects.
Health authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza say the death toll from the Israeli offensive has surpassed 18,000.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong is expected to visit Israel and other Middle Eastern countries in January.