Labor MP Sam Lim has blamed hackers for a WhatsApp message under his name which claimed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “hegemon”.
Lim claimed the message posted in a WhatsApp channel he ran is fake and suggested his phone may have been “compromised”.
The message posted under Sam Lim’s name to his Whatsapp group.
Now, the Australian Jewish Association has called for Lim’s resignation in a letter sent to the Tangney MP – who was a former WA police officer and dolphin trainer – on Thursday after receiving a screenshot of the message.
The message included a quote he claimed could be attributed to Albanese made in response to “Murdoch mercenaries and others”.
“What I’ll say is this. Mr Netanyahu should consider that the bombing of a synagogue in Australia is likely the manifestation of a few despondent radicals who had had enough of the continued aerial bombing of thousands of innocent children and women in Gaza by his single-minded troops,” the message reads.
“Australia is a robust democracy. We do not encourage violence to those whom we do not warm to. If he continues to blame me and other world leaders, he might well be remembered in history as another hegemon who blamed everyone else for his crime against innocent civilians.”
Albanese’s office confirmed the Prime Minister never said the supposed quote, but declined to comment further.
The screenshot began circulating late on Tuesday and ended up in the hands of the association and other prominent Jewish advocacy groups like Friends of Israel WA by Wednesday.
On Wednesday afternoon Lim’s office told this masthead the message was fabricated and Albanese did not say the quote.
Lim told The West Australian the message was posted by “someone from Brisbane” and he made a mistake by allowing the message to be shared. He said it had been removed from all of his chat groups.
He later said he consulted with a friend in Queensland Police and that he thinks his phone may be compromised.
Tangney MP Sam Lim.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“Possibly, my mobile phone has been compromised,” he told the paper.
“This misinformation is so scary ... this is harmful.”
In a letter sent to Lim’s office on Thursday morning association chief executive Robert Gregory said the Jewish community found the message shocking and confronting and questioned Lim’s explanations.
“Your explanation, first blaming someone in Brisbane and then claiming your phone was compromised, raises serious questions,” he said.
“Both propositions cannot be true simultaneously. Such discrepancies demand clarification, as they erode trust in your ability to take responsibility for your own communications.
“As a Federal Member of Parliament, you have taxpayer-funded staff and resources to manage your public communications. Despite this, these hateful words have made their way into the public domain, under your name, and the consequences have been damaging.
“In light of the rise of antisemitism since October 7, where Jewish people in Australia have never felt more unsafe, we simply cannot afford for such misinformation to circulate unchecked.”
Gregory questioned why Lim had not reported the breach to the Australian Federal Police and called on him to issue an apology and urged him to consider resigning as the Tangney MP.
With a margin of 2.4 per cent, Tangney is Labor’s most marginal seat in Western Australia after Lim wrested it from former Liberal powerbroker Ben Morton at the 2022 election.
Lim’s office declined to provide any further comment or say whether he had alerted the Australian Federal Police of his concerns.
Queensland Police said it could not search for names due to privacy reasons.
The Australian Federal Police declined to comment.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.