A statement in support of Jews

Federal parliament’s resumption on Tuesday provides Anthony Albanese with an opportunity he must take to make an unambiguous statement about the scourge of grotesque anti-Semitism sweeping our nation. He may claim he has already done so. But if he has, the compelling evidence of the escalating crisis bringing such shame to Australia and shows incontrovertibly that it has not worked. It has failed to provide the unequivocal leadership on the issue that is desperately needed.

Instances of despicable anti-Semitism in Australian society have become even more rife, to the point where members of our respected Jewish community are fearfully – and with good reason – drawing ominous parallels with the dark days of Europe in the 1930s. Incredibly in 2025, in the country that did so much to embrace and provide homes for Jews fleeing the depravity of the Holocaust, Jewish parents are legitimately worried to the point where they are apprehensive about sending their children to school. Jews cannot park cars on streets in some suburbs without worrying they may be defaced with anti-Jew slogans. Even in Bondi, our globally admired beach icon, seen by many around the world to epitomise all that is good about life in Australia, women walking on the street have been pelted with eggs, apparently by Jew-haters.

There is no reason to believe Mr Albanese is not as appalled as the rest of us by this, but his job is to lead in such crises, and he and his government, with what has been seen by many as their wet lettuce leaf waffle, have so far failed that test. The ambivalent stand taken by our government has undermined our longstanding ties with Israel, created doubt about our support for it, and helped to fuel vitriolic anti-Jewish sentiment within Australia. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has played her part in this by choosing exactly the wrong time to pledge Australian support for Palestinian statehood and taking every opportunity to berate and criticise Israel. What is needed from Mr Albanese is not necessarily a mea culpa for his government’s handling of the crisis. But he must reflect on the points made by Greg Hunt that Australia, by our actions, has perversely aided Hamas’s objective of diplomatically isolating Israel. Mr Hunt has called for a national parliamentary apology to Australia’s Jewish population. He is correct to say an acknowledgment of the failures that have led to this moment would help bring accountability and healing.

Incredibly, even on relatively simple aspects of the crisis, such as Senator Wong’s rush to restore Australian taxpayer funding to the severely tainted UN aid organisation UNRWA, the government has played the wrong cards. New evidence from a released Israeli hostage confirms that not only do some UNRWA employees stand condemned for taking an active part in the October 7 massacre, but some of the hostages were incarcerated by Hamas inside UNRWA facilities. It reflects poorly on our government’s judgment, too, that while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington meeting Donald Trump without being arrested, the best Senator Wong could come up with after the International Criminal Court issued its warrant targeting the Jewish state’s leader was to say: “Australia respects the independence of the ICC and its important role in upholding international law.”

Mr Hunt is right. The Albanese government’s failure to provide the leadership needed to deal with the gravest crisis it has faced since it won government demands answers from the Prime Minister.