Netanyahu ignores pleas for calm and condemns Albanese, Australian protesters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has waded further into Australian domestic politics, claiming Australia risked being engulfed in a “tsunami of antisemitism”, despite direct pleas for him to calm down from Australia’s top Jewish community leaders.

In a Sky News interview on Thursday, Netanyahu said pro-Palestinian protesters in Sydney or Melbourne calling for a ceasefire should be “counteracted.”

“[Protesters] should be defied by the leaders. And yet we see – not in America, I’m happy to say, because President Trump is standing strong – but in Europe, one country after another succumbing to them, condemning Israel that is fighting these monsters and is doing its best to avoid civilian casualties.”

Since Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1200 people, more than 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, according to the latest estimates from Gaza’s health ministry.

Netanyahu also labelled the burning of a Melbourne synagogue last year as part of a “tsunami of antisemitism”.

“If you don’t stop [attacks such as on the synagogue] when they’re small, they get bigger and bigger and bigger, and ultimately, they consume your society,” he said.

Netanyahu did not escalate his bitter personal attack on Albanese during the Sky interview beyond comments previewed earlier on Thursday in which he branded the Australian “forever tarnished” by his plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu was condemned this week by Jewish groups and conservative MPs for a scathing social media post on Tuesday night that called Albanese “weak” and accused him of abandoning Israel and Australia’s Jewish community.

In the interview on Sky, he included Albanese in the world leaders whose recognition of Palestine he compared to the appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s after the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

“It’s appeasement, pure and simple,” he said. “They gave [territory] to Hitler. And what did he do? Immediately started World War II, the worst war in the history of humanity.”

Netanyahu also claimed that accusing Israel of starving children in Gaza was on par with the historical antisemitic conspiracies about Jews during the Middle Ages.

“[History is] repeating itself. Israel is starving Palestinian children - what lies,” he said.

Eight more people, including three children, died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the previous 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said on Thursday. That takes the total to 235, including 106 children, since the war began.

The United Nations said on July 29 that “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza”.

The International Criminal Court has charged Netanyahu with crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon.

Netanyahu vowed to continue his military operations even as a deadline for a 60-day ceasefire was due to expire on Friday afternoon Australian time. Hamas has agreed to the ceasefire and Israel has said it will respond by the end of the week.

“My goal is not to occupy Gaza, it’s to free Gaza,” he said. “Free Israel and others from Hamas terrorism. Give Gaza and Israel a different future, and I think we’re close to doing it.”

His statement included the caveat that his goal could not be achieved without removing Hamas, but did not say when he would be convinced the terror group was no longer a threat.

“It’ll have to, of course, mean getting the last strongholds of Hamas, they shouldn’t be there. Everybody understands that. Get rid of the crocodile.”

The 16-minute interview – unusual for its length and the close focus on the domestic politics of another country – directly defied calls for moderation from Australia’s peak Jewish body, which criticised Netanyahu for his intervention in the nation’s affairs.

In a letter sent to Netanyahu on Wednesday, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said the Israeli prime minister’s comments about Albanese were “inflammatory and provocative, and demonstrated a woeful lack of understanding of social and political conditions in Australia”.

“These comments have played straight into the hands of opponents of Israel and antisemites, to the detriment of the Australian Jewish community.”

Albanese had declined to escalate the diplomatic stoush on Wednesday, saying he treated other leaders with respect.

Netanyahu was critical of the Albanese government last year after the synagogue firebombing, but the diplomatic relationship between Australia and Israel has declined even further since Albanese announced earlier this month that his government would recognise a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu sent a scathing letter to the Australian prime minister on Tuesday, saying the “call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire”.

Netanyahu sent similar letters to other world leaders who have decided to recognise Palestine, including French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron accused Netanyahu of a “manipulation” of facts in a dispute with parallels to the one between Israel and Australia.

The Albanese government this week revoked the visa of a far-right Israeli politician travelling to Australia, and Israel retaliated by rescinding the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank.

On Thursday, the government updated its advice for travel to the region, saying on its Smartraveller website: “Australian officials ... have been directed to depart. Our operations in Ramallah [in the West Bank] have been suspended. Our ability to provide consular assistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is extremely limited”.

This masthead was referred to Albanese’s earlier public remarks when the prime minister’s office was contacted for comment.

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