Anthony Albanese slams Greens for ‘appalling’ Israel stance, as anti-Semitism envoy unveiled

Anthony Albanese has singled out Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi for being unable to articulate her stance on Israel.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Sydney Jewish Museum. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Anthony Albanese has escalated his attacks on the Greens over the party’s stance on Israel, accusing senator Mehreen Faruqi of being unable to articulate her stance on whether a Palestinian state should stretch from the “Jordan River to the sea”, undermining the Jewish state’s right to exist.

The Prime Minister said the Greens’ position on Israel was ­“appalling” and criticised Senator Faruqi for refusing to declare that Hamas should not play a role in a future Palestinian state, questioning whether she supported a two-state solution.

Amid concerns that the Middle East conflict was undermining ­social cohesion in Australia, Mr Albanese unveiled that former Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Jillian Segal would be a Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism.

Mr Albanese said he would also imminently unveil a special envoy for Islamophobia.

Speaking at the Sydney Jewish Museum on Tuesday, he said the envoy would combat the rise in anti-Semitism since the October 7 attack amid the collapse of “civil” and “respectful” discourse, while directly targeting Senator Faruqi for her beliefs surrounding Hamas.

“She couldn’t answer whether Hamas should play an ongoing role, whether it should be dismantled,” he said.

“She had the statement that said … that Palestinians should self-determine what happens in the region. It was unclear whether that meant one state from the Jordan River to the sea, and what the implications of that were for Israel’s right to exist. At one stage, she said she did support two states.”

In response, Senator Faruqi said Mr Albanese was “confused by the concept of self-determination”, which was a basic human right for Palestinians to decide their future.

“He will talk about anything but the genocide of Palestinian people by Israel,” she said.

“He should be sanctioning Israel for war crimes, not attacking those demanding justice.”

The escalation in political rhetoric comes as Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus declared criticism of Israel “absolutely” could be anti-Semitism, with the government’s most senior Jewish MP saying he voiced fault with the ­Israeli government from “time to time … But when people are singling out Israel and applying a standard to Israel they do not apply to other countries, potentially there’s anti-Semitism going on.”

Mr Albanese ruled out that his government would act on Coalition calls to establish a ­judicial inquiry to probe anti-­Semitism on university campuses, instead saying that “what we’re doing is acting” by appointing an envoy.

Ms Segal said it was too early to tell whether she would recommend the government did an about-face on its opposition to a judicial inquiry.

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley backed the appointment of Ms Segal but criticised the government’s move to implement a study into racism at universities instead of an inquiry.

Ms Segal said Australians had once been lucky to live in a country that had “no history of anti-Semitic laws or institutional perse­cution” of Jewish people, but the world had changed.

“This is not the Australia we expect,” she said.

“The creation of this role shows a determination by the government to confront this evil and ensure it does not erode the goodness that exists in our society.”

ECAJ president Daniel Aghion commended the government for taking the “initiative in response to an unprecedented surge of anti-Semitism”.