Australia Hits Back at Israeli PM Netanyahu

Australia has condemned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he described the Australian prime minister as weak, with a high-profile minister saying Netanyahu is conflating strength with killing people and the capacity to inflict harm.

In an interview with Australia’s national broadcaster on Wednesday, Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke said that strength is not measured “by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry.”

Burke’s remarks follow Netanyahu’s attack against Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on social media this Tuesday. He said that history would remember him as a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”

Speaking on ABC’s Radio National Breakfast program, Burke described Netanyahu’s attack as a manifestation of Israel’s “lashing out” against nations that have taken steps to recognize a Palestinian state.

“Strength is much better measured by exactly what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done, which is when there’s a decision that we know Israel won’t like, he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu,” Burke said.

“He has the conversation, he says exactly what we’re intending to do, and has the chance for the objections to be made person to person. And then, having heard them, makes public announcement and then does what needs to be done.”

The relationship between Australia and Israel, historically strong allies, has progressively deteriorated in recent months due to rising tensions related to the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Ties have grown particularly contentious following Canberra’s declaration last week regarding its recognition of a Palestinian state.

On Monday, Australia declared the cancellation of a visa for Simcha Rothman, a legislator affiliated with Israel’s far-right Mafdal-Religious Zionism party and a member of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, due to worries that a planned speaking tour in the nation would “spread division.”

Shortly after that decision, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar announced that he had canceled the visas of Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority.

It was followed by Netanyahu’s social media outburst. “History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

Israel is facing increasing international pressure, including from numerous traditional allies, regarding the extent of human suffering caused by its genocidal war in Gaza.

The Israeli military has waged a brutal war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, dismissing international appeals for a ceasefire, killing at least 62,064 Palestinians, predominantly women and children.

The unrelenting airstrikes have ravaged the region and caused significant food shortages.