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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state was linked to the deadly armed attack in Sydney’s Bondi district.
Speaking in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Albanese said such assertions were unfounded and risked politicising a tragic act of violence. He stressed the importance of relying on verified facts and avoiding inflammatory narratives while authorities continue their investigation.
“The fight against terrorism must not be exploited for political purposes,” Albanese said, adding that drawing connections between foreign policy decisions and domestic acts of violence was “unacceptable”.
The Australian prime minister warned that the simultaneous rise of antisemitism and far-right extremism posed a serious threat to social cohesion in Australia. He said the government’s responsibility was to unite the country and confront ideologies that fuel hatred and division.
Albanese also emphasised the need to support the entire Australian Jewish community, not only those directly affected by the attack, and to ensure that communal tensions were not inflamed by misleading claims.
His remarks came in response to comments by Netanyahu, who accused the Australian government of “pouring fuel on the fire of antisemitism” by supporting recognition of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu suggested that such policies encouraged hostility towards Jewish communities.
Albanese firmly rejected this characterisation, saying that counter-terrorism efforts required serious security coordination and legislative action, rather than political rhetoric. He added that Australia’s position on Palestinian statehood was grounded in international law and long-standing diplomatic principles, and should not be conflated with acts of violence carried out by individuals.
The Bondi attack left at least 15 people dead and more than 40 injured, prompting renewed debate in Australia over public safety, extremism and the responsibilities of political leaders during periods of national trauma.
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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
