Benjamin Netanyahu accuses ‘weak’ Anthony Albanese of pouring ‘fuel on anti-Semitic fire’ in extraordinary letter
Benjamin Netanyahu has branded Anthony Albanese a ‘weak politician’ who has betrayed Israel, and ‘poured fuel on this anti-Semitic fire’, in an extraordinary letter to the PM.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced Anthony Albanese as a weak politician who has abandoned Australian Jews and betrayed Israel, as Donald Trump’s former US ambassador to the UN says the Albanese government’s plan to recognise Palestine is a significant political blunder that has antagonised America.
In the lowest point in Australian-Israeli relations since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust, Mr Netanyahu personally attacked the Prime Minister on social media, and in an extraordinary letter to Mr Albanese obtained by Sky News Australia’s Sharri Markson, after days of ramping tensions over Labor’s decision to recognise Palestine.
In the letter, Mr Netanyahu accuses Mr Albanese of pouring “fuel on this anti-Semitic fire” by calling for recognition of a Palestinian state, saying it “rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas’s refusal to free the hostages”, “emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets”.
“It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement,” Mr Netanyahu said.
“Prime Minister, anti-Semitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent. It retreats when leaders act. I call upon you to replace weakness with action, appeasement with resolve, and to do so by a clear date: the Jewish New Year, September 23, 2025,” Mr Netanyahu writes in the letter sent on Monday.
Mr Netanyahu praised Mr Trump’s actions on anti-Semitism. “As President Trump has shown, anti-Semitism can and must be confronted,” he writes.
“The President is protecting the civil rights of American Jews, enforcing the law, protecting public order and prosecuting anti-Semitic crimes. He has also deported Hamas sympathisers and revoked the visas of foreign students who incite violence against Jews.”
Mr Netanyahu concluded the letter by saying, “History will not forgive hesitation. It will honour action.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong had earlier accused Mr Netanyahu’s government of “isolating Israel” after it stripped the visas of Australia’s envoys to the Palestinian Authority over the recognition moves and the denial of visas to right-wing Israeli politicians.
“History will remember Albanese for what he is,” Mr Netanyahu said on X. “A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 19, 2025
History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician
who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews.
It came as Kelly Craft, who served as Mr Trump’s ambassador to the UN from 2019 to 2021, said Anthony Albanese’s decision had put the US President in the invidious position of having to choose between Australia and Israel.
“We are at a critical moment in the Australian-American relationship, as the Trump administration undertakes a review of the AUKUS agreement brokered by president Joe Biden and decides whether it will sell US Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia,” Ms Craft writes in The Australian.
“With so much hanging in the balance, why would Anthony Albanese choose now to announce that Australia will recognise a so-called state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September?”
Ms Craft said Australia’s decision could result in “unfortunate repercussions”, citing Mr Trump linking Canada’s recognition of a Palestinian state with his decision to raise tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent.
“Does Australia really want to risk a similar blowback based on utterly false charges that Israel is engaged in a policy of deliberate starvation in Gaza?” Ms Craft writes.
Ms Craft’s comments add to the strident criticism of the government’s decision by Israel and Australian Jewish organisations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move was “meaningless” and driven by domestic politics, while Hamas has embarrassed the government by heaping praise on the decision.
The Prime Minister has said in recent weeks that Mr Netanyahu is in “denial” over the war in Gaza and that his plans to fully occupy its main city to drive out terror group Hamas could contravene international law.
Mr Albanese’s office was approached for comment on Tuesday night.
Earlier Senator Wong said the Netanyahu government’s attacks on Australia were unjustified. “At a time when dialogue and diplomacy are needed more than ever, the Netanyahu government is isolating Israel and undermining international efforts towards peace and a two-state solution,” she said on Tuesday morning.
The nation’s peak Jewish body says the tit-for-tit diplomatic war needs to end to protect a lucrative trade relationship and lifesaving intelligence ties between the two countries.
“Calm heads need to take control of the situation, otherwise there will be a risk to some $2bn dollars in bilateral trade, extensive investment in Australian start-ups, vital security co-operation and the Israeli-made medicine and medical technology that we all rely on,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said. “There are real-life consequences here and we want to see the countries work through any issues before things get out of hand.”
During her time as US ambassador, Ms Craft frequently called out what she described as the UN’s “unrelenting bias and hostility” towards Israel.
Ms Craft said the government’s plan to recognise Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly in September was “not just a moral outrage; it is also a political blunder” that was rewarding Hamas.
“When so much hangs in the balance in the Australian-American relationship, this is no time to antagonise Israel’s strongest ally by joining the disgraceful global pile-on,” she writes. “The Australian-American relationship is critically important to the peace of this region and the security of the world. Why on earth would the Prime Minister put President Trump in a position of having to choose between Israel and Australia?”
Ms Craft called on the government to rethink its decision before the UN General Assembly.
“Instead of creating new and unnecessary sources of friction between our countries, we need to strengthen our alliance,” she writes.
“I know President Trump wants to do so. Does Canberra?”
Australia’s planned recognition of Palestine is part of a broader split between the Trump administration over Israel. Australia has recently adopted far harsher rhetoric and criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza than the US has.
It comes as Mr Albanese is struggling to secure his first meeting with the US President and amid the backdrop of other friction with the US over defence spending, China and tariffs.
Ms Craft, who succeeded Nikki Haley as UN ambassador, said it was wrong to blame Israel for the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Make no mistake: The source of the Palestinian people’s suffering is Hamas.
“Indeed, Hamas wants the people of Gaza to suffer … Gazan suffering is key to Hamas’s strategy of survival. In recognising a Palestinian state, Australia is rewarding Hamas’s strategy, including its brutal October 7 terrorist attack, its ongoing theft of food aid and its refusal to release Israeli hostages.”
Ms Craft argues that Israel has provided more aid to Gaza than any nation in history that suffered such a brutal and unprovoked attack as that on Israelis on October 7, 2023.
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