Israeli Knesset Member Pnina Tamano-Shata on Monday added her voice to a growing group of Israeli officials criticizing the Australian government for permitting antisemitism to worsen before this weekend’s terrorist attack.
In comments to Digital, Tamano-Shata said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other officials had seen antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment increase “right in front of their eyes” in recent months. She stated that Australian authorities possessed reports of for months, “but they did nothing.”
“When governments around the world, and especially , don’t do something that they can do before something like this happens, they are giving in many ways a green light to antisemites and terrorists to hurt and to kill Jews,” Tamano-Shata said.
“The government doesn’t understand that anti-Israel ideas and antisemitism – it is the new antisemitism. There were a wide range of attacks before this happened. We see how they burned down a synagogue, we see how they attacked an Israeli restaurant,” she added. “This issue was in front of their eyes.”
Her statements mirror those made by Jewish leaders in Israel and Australia after Sunday’s terrorist attack in Sydney, which left 15 dead and many more hospitalized. The gunmen targeted a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach.
Dionne Taylor, communications manager for the Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council, noted that the attack came with prior warnings, making it a painful reality.
“We have been completely let down by our government,” Taylor told Digital. “We warned them that this snowball effect was going to happen, and it was only a matter of time before someone got killed.”
“It started with ,” she said. “Then graffiti. Then public demonstrations. Then firebombing synagogues, preschools, people’s homes, people’s cars. And now murder.”
Israeli Prime Minister pointed to a letter he had sent Albanese earlier this year after the Australian leader announced support for a Palestinian state.
“Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets. Antisemitism 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,” Netanyahu read.
“Instead, Prime Minister, you replaced weakness with weakness and appeasement with more appeasement. Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia. You did nothing to curb the cancer cells that were growing inside your country. You took no action. You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.
and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar likewise issued unusually severe statements after Sunday’s shooting, which killed at least 11 and hospitalized 29.
“Time and again we called on the to take action and fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism that is plaguing Australian society,” Herzog wrote on social media, sharing an image of a blood-stained prayer shawl.
Saar said the Australian government had overlooked “countless warning signs” and urged leaders to “come to their senses.”
‘ Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.