PM’s awkward encounter with synagogue community

Four days after the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne’s east, Anthony Albanese’s belated visit on Tuesday was chaotic and awkward. But he was shocked and moved by what he saw. Despite the significance of the occasion, he did not hold a press conference and tried to avoid media, looking uncomfortable as he pushed through the scrum of locals, Jewish leaders and journalists. Despite being asked by Jewish community leaders not to heckle, some in the crowd called out “Nice day for tennis”, “Go live in Gaza” and “Time to resign”. But after inspecting the synagogue’s charred interior, the Prime Minister struck the right note: “This arson attack is an act of terrorism that was fuelled by anti-Semitism, stoked by hatred,” he said. “One of the things that we spoke about inside with the community leaders was the fact that people have come to Australia because we are a country that is peaceful. We are a country that respects people of different faiths and are enriched by our diversity here.”

Mr Albanese has had four inglorious days brought about through his own bad judgment. Instead of heading to Melbourne on Friday or Saturday, he kept his scheduled appointments in Perth, campaigning in battleground seats, opening a rail line, attending a party fundraiser and playing tennis at the Cottesloe Tennis Club.

And two of his cabinet ministers have made a tense situation among the nation’s Jewish communities worse. Despite being responsible for the nation’s diplomats, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, by implication, tactlessly compared Israel, a functioning democracy, to the authoritarian regimes of Russia and China on Monday night. The Jewish state needed to comply with international law, just as Russia and China were expected to do, she said, delivering the Hawke lecture at the University of South Australia. The comparison of a friendly liberal democracy with two authoritarian states was “an outrageous slur”, as opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said. And it went down like a lead balloon with some at the synagogue.

Shortly before Mr Albanese arrived, Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic needlessly took aim at Peter Dutton for turning “a blind eye” to Islamophobia. Mr Husic, who appealed to Muslim voters last week to stick with Labor, compared the terrorist attack on the synagogue to an incident in January in which an improvised explosive was placed on a ute in the driveway of a Sydney home where the Palestinian flag was displayed. “Now that is equally bad, I would say, (and) is an issue that should get attention as well,” Mr Husic said. Police have taken up the matter. But incidents of Islamophobia in Australia have been few and far between since Hamas slaughtered 1200 people and kidnapped 250 in Israel on October 7, 2023. Anti-Semitism, in contrast, has escalated from the October 9, 2023, Opera House protest onwards, before Israel had responded militarily to the Hamas attack.

After initially dismissing calls by Josh Frydenberg for a police taskforce devoted to stamping out anti-Semitism, Mr Albanese and law enforcement authorities made headway on Monday announcing the formation of the Australian Federal Police Special Operation Avalite for anti-Semitism. That initiative needs to be reinforced. As former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni said on Monday, societies that lacked strong political leadership ready to stamp out anti-Semitism as soon as it occurred would never be able to conquer the scourge.

Twice before – when Health Minister Mark Butler spoke out strongly on the first anniversary of the Hamas massacre and when Mr Albanese visited Sydney’s Central Synagogue at Bondi Junction in May, describing anti-Jewish university protesters as “Trots” looking to make trouble and committing to “unequivocally fight anti-Semitism” – the government appeared to be on the right track. But it was not consistent. From here, Mr Albanese must be more decisive.