Netanyahu claims Melbourne synagogue attack linked to Labor’s ‘anti-Israel sentiment’

Australia’s was among 157 votes in favour of the resolution on December 3, after it abstained in a similar vote in September.

“Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia, including the scandalous decision to support the UN resolution calling on Israel ‘to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as rapidly as possible’, and preventing a former Israeli minister from entering the country.”

Netanyahu argued said that “anti-Israel sentiment is anti-Semitism”.

The relationship between Australia and Israel – decades long allies – has plunged to a rare low, with the partnership severely strained by the war in Gaza, and Australia’s peak Jewish groups saying they feel betrayed by the Albanese government, which has not backed Israel as fiercely as the Coalition.

The recent UN vote on Israel and Palestine marked a two-decade change in Australia’s position on the matter and coincided with the nation’s top diplomat in Israel being summoned by its foreign minister, who is furious about an earlier decision to deny a prominent former minister entry to Australia.

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The last time Australia voted for a UN resolution calling for ­Israel to withdraw from disputed territories was in 2001. In May, Australia voted to recognise Palestine as qualified to become a full UN member, and last month, Australia backed a resolution recognising the “permanent sovereignty of the Palestinians” in the West Bank and Gaza.

On Friday, Israel’s president Isaac Herzog spoke to Albanese, urging him to take “firm and strong action” against antisemitism, as he condemned a surge of attacks on the Australian Jewish community.

Posting in X, he said the Adass Israel temple, condemning “an intolerable wave of attacks on Jewish communities in Australia and around the world”, echoing remarks from the country’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar from earlier in the day.