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Deputy Nationals Leader Bridget McKenzie has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of creating an environment that tolerates terrorism by recognising Palestinian statehood, after a deadly attack on a UK synagogue led Jewish Australians to say they were unsurprised by the violence.
Politicians across the spectrum condemned Thursday’s attack, which killed two people, but the horror has sparked domestic recriminations after Albanese returned from an overseas trip to the United Nations, where he recognised Palestine alongside the UK, Canada and France.
Members of the Jewish community comfort each other near to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester after an antisemitic attack.Credit: AP
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry urged the federal government to take action on a report into rising antisemitism that it received three months ago, saying their community’s safety was continuously compromised, while McKenzie said the attack was “absolutely appalling and vile” as she criticised the Albanese government’s foreign policy.
Albanese has said the collective pressure at the United Nations contributed to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu making a peace plan days later, and showed Australia making a difference in a conflict nearing its two-year anniversary.
But McKenzie said the decision had contributed to terrorism being normalised, continuing a political line of attack the Coalition has deployed against the government over its response to antisemitism since Hamas killed 1200 Israelis on October 7, 2023.
“I think the lack of leadership from the prime minister in … standing by whilst mass anti-Israel protests were undertaken, illegal immigration, and recognising a Palestinian state without Hamas surrendering, without the hostages being returned, and the war ending has all led to this sort of tacit support and approval for terrorists and their sympathisers,” she said on Friday morning, following the synagogue attack.
“When political leadership is lacking and a vacuum is created, these types of views, events and attacks become normalised.”
As domestic political debate has flared over the war in Gaza, which has reportedly killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, ASIO security-general Mike Burgess has repeatedly called for Australians to avoid inflammatory language that fuels social divisions.
“We do see a direct correlation between language that inflames tension and out of that tension does grow a small number of people who think violence is the answer,” he said after the October 7 attacks.
Albanese in a statement on Friday morning said: “I send my condolences to the people of Manchester after the heinous attack on a synagogue on the most sacred day on the Jewish calendar.”
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“There is no place for terrorism in our streets and all Australians stand with the UK at this dreadful time,” he said.
British police named 35-year-old Jihad al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent, as the suspect they shot dead outside the synagogue on Thursday. They also arrested three people they believe aided attack, which came as worshippers gathered at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue for Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley expressed her grief and shock. “Our thoughts are with the families of those who have been killed and injured in this cowardly, evil attack,” she said in a statement.
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“To Jewish people in Australia and around the world, this week of all weeks should be a period for families to feel free to come together in peace to participate in the ancient rites of repentance and atonement that mark Yom Kippur. This act of terror may cause many Jews around the world to be concerned about outwardly expressing their faith – it must not be allowed to do so.”
Co-chief executive officer of the Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, said Australian Jews had increasingly feared for their safety since Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attacks.
“This is a concern that we’ve had really forever, but especially the last couple of years, and with the news that the Iranian regime co-ordinated attacks on Australian soil,” he said on Sky on Friday.
“So there’s no shock, there’s no surprise, and there’s no unpreparedness. Whether it’s ASIO or the police or the Jewish community itself, we are absolutely acutely aware of the ongoing threat to our community and the need to secure ourselves and protect ourselves.”
President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Daniel Aghion, pushed the Albanese government to provide an urgent response to the recommendations of special envoy Jillian Segal’s report into antisemitism, which it received in July.
“The Jewish community here in Australia, we’re devastated and we’re angry,” he said on Sky on Friday, referencing the additional layers of security that have been established to protect Jews worshipping at Australian synagogues.
“No other religious community in this country has to go through what we do just to practise our religion.”
Segal’s report called for more physical security at Jewish sites but also contained recommendations to strip funding from cultural events and institutions that did not conform to a contentious definition of antisemitism.
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