Anthony Albanese’s Perth bar mitzvah visit sparks displeasure in Jewish community

Multiple people who attended the event were divided over whether Anthony Albanese should have been welcomed, and were ‘amazed at the Prime Minister’s chutzpah’.

Anthony Albanese's attendance at a Perth bar mitzvah has divided WA's Jewish community.

Anthony Albanese’s surprise visit to a bar mitzvah at the weekend has caused tensions within the Perth Jewish community, with members divided over whether the Prime Minister should have been welcomed at the event.

Mr Albanese, in Perth for a ­series of events across marginal West Australian seats, was a last-minute attendee at the bar mitzvah at the Perth Hebrew Congregation in Menora on Saturday morning.

While the synagogue’s rabbi and the family of boy celebrating his bar mitzvah were happy to have Mr Albanese attend, multiple sources told The Australian that several guests expressed their displeasure at his presence. It is understood a number of Jewish leaders have privately expressed that they would not have allowed Mr Albanese to visit their synagogues.

Rather than change his plans and travel to Melbourne and visit the site of the Adass Israel synagogue fire bombing, Mr Albanese has stuck with his planned appearances in Perth over the weekend. WA is shaping as the key state for Mr Albanese’s re-election hopes, with Labor’s ability to retain the seats it gained in 2022 likely to determine whether the party can hold on to power.

Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash, the most senior Liberal figure from WA, said she was aware of unease among the Jewish community over the Prime Minister’s appearance.

“Members of the Perth Jewish community who were at the event Mr Albanese attended say they were not happy and were ‘amazed at his chutzpah for attending’,” Senator Cash said.

“They say that he didn’t acknowledge that the Labor government’s actions since October 7 have contributed to what is now happening to the Jewish community in Australia.”

Mr Albanese’s synagogue visit came followed the release of an extraordinary statement by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticising the Albanese government.

Mr Netanyahu doubled down on his criticism of Mr Albanese and his government just hours after the Perth synagogue visit, saying it was impossible to separate the attack on a Melbourne synagogue “from the extreme anti-Israel position of the Labor government”.

Senator Cash said Mr Albanese had shown a distinct lack of leadership when dealing with anti-Semitism.

“The Albanese hovernment’s weak response to the terrorist fire bombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne is just another example of the government not taking anti-Semitism seriously,” she said.

“Mr Albanese cannot claim to be combating anti-Semitism whilst he constantly betrays our Israeli allies. His government has blocked a former Israeli politician from obtaining a visa, consistently voted against Israel at the UB and refused to rule out arresting the Israeli Prime Minister if he travels to Australia.”

Speaking to reporters in Perth on Sunday, Mr Albanese said he and Labor MP Patrick Gorman had been welcomed into the synagogue.

“It was, at a difficult time, a great celebration of culture as well. We happened to be there at a time of a bar mitzvah, and it was a celebration as well of Jewish culture,” he said.

“People must be allowed to conduct their faith with peace and respect, and there is no place in Australia for anti-Semitism.”

Separately, the WA Liberal Party passed unanimously a resolution at its state council on Saturday to unequivocally condemn the attack on the Adass Israel synagogue and call on the Dutton Coalition “to hold the Albanese Labor government and Foreign Minister Penny Wong accountable for their failure to prevent the domestic impact of overseas conflicts on Jewish communities in Australia”.

The resolution was moved by the party’s state policy chairman Sherry Sufi.