Australia pushes back against Netanyahu’s statement that anti-Israel policies played a role in Melbourne synagogue arson attack

Netanyahu: ‘Sadly, this deplorable act cannot be viewed in isolation from the Labor government’s extreme anti-Israeli stance in Australia.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Australia’s government pushed back against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that it was “impossible to separate” the arson attack against Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue from the anti-Israel policies.

Worshippers fled the synagogue on Friday, and some reported seeing men pouring gasoline before flames engulfed the building, destroying its interior and injuring one.

Following the attack, Netanyahu said, “The burning of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne is an appalling act of antisemitism. I expect state authorities to take decisive action to prevent such acts from occurring again,” Netanyahu said.

“Sadly, this deplorable act cannot be viewed in isolation from the Labor government’s extreme anti-Israeli stance in Australia,” he added.

Australian Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt responded to Netanyahu’s remarks, saying that the government of Anthony Albanese had “taken a range of strong actions to stand against antisemitism and to stamp it out from our community.”

Watt said that since 2022, the Albanese government has taken action against hate speech, banned Nazi salutes, and provided funding for increased security at Jewish sites.

According to a transcript, Watt said in Brisbane, “I respectfully disagree with Prime Minister Netanyahu on this matter. ”

On Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Labor) held a press conference in Perth, during which he called the torching of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne an act of “terrorism” and touted his government’s measures over the past year to combat the rising tide of antisemitism in his country.

“If you want my personal view: quite clearly, terrorism is something that is aimed at creating fear in the community and the atrocities that occurred at the synagogue in Melbourne clearly were designed to create fear in the community and therefore, from my personal perspective, certainly fulfill that definition of terrorism,” Albanese said during Saturday’s press conference.

“There has been a worrying rise in antisemitism,” Albanese acknowledged, but rejected accusations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linking Friday’s arson with the anti-Israel shift in Canberra’s policies under the Albanese government.

Benjamin NetanyahuMelbourneTerror Attack