Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has issued an emotional plea for national unity to end the “evil” of anti-Semitism after a fresh hate crime in Sydney. Source: The Australian.
He also defended his Government against claims its hard-line stance on Israel had encouraged attacks on Australian Jews.
After more than a year of criticism by Jewish leaders of Labor’s positioning on the war in Gaza, Mr Albanese appeared close to tears as he declared the Woollahra graffiti attack a terrorist incident and implored Australians to learn the lessons of the Holocaust and say “never again”.
“We need an end to anti-Semitism. It is evil. It diminishes us as a nation,” he declared at Sydney’s Jewish Museum on Wednesday.
The appeal came after at least three homes in the heart of Sydney’s Jewish community were daubed with graffiti declaring “Kill Israiel” (sic) and “Death 2 Israiel” (sic).
Echoing NSW Premier Chris Minns, Mr Albanese argued the latest Sydney attack, which followed one in the same suburb less than a month ago, was “not anti-Israel, but anti-Semitic”.
“I unequivocally condemn these shameful acts of violence aimed at the Jewish community,” he said, just a day after he was heckled by Jewish community leaders during a visit to a firebombed Melbourne synagogue.
“They are acts which are aimed at promoting fear in the community. And that, by any definition, is what terrorism is about.”
NSW Police on Wednesday launched a hunt for two young men believed to be connected to the graffiti attack, with Mr Minns vowing those responsible for the “hate crime” would face the full force of the law.
The NSW Premier has vowed to crack down on protests outside religious sites, in a move backed on Wednesday by Mr Albanese, who declared them “completely unacceptable”.
“I cannot conceive of any reason, apart from creating division in our community, of why someone would want to hold a demonstration outside a place of worship,” Mr Albanese said.
FULL STORY
Almost an epiphany on anti-Semitism for Anthony Albanese (By Ben Packham and Sarah Ison, The Australian)
