December 8, 2024
Anthony Albanese is resisting calls from prominent Australians to label the firebombing attack on a Melbourne synagogue an act of terrorism.
In a withering press conference on Saturday morning, former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg demanded the PM call the attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue that saw injured worshippers flee the horrifying early-morning firebombing a terror act.
Branding the Prime Minister a "missing leader", he demanded the government set up a national police taskforce to curb anti-Semitism, one day after his scathing letter in the Saturday Herald Sun.
"If the Prime Minister does not take up this challenge, does not respond to the crisis we face, then what hope do all of us as humble citizens have of affecting equal change if the Prime Minister does not take it upon himself to affect that change?" Mr Frydenberg said. "He and his government need to declare yesterday's attack a terrorism event."
He also called on Mr Albanese to launch a judicial inquiry into university campus antiSemitism a move the government has previously rejected in favour of a parliamentary inquiry. "The Prime Minister doesn't speak out with any conviction, with any clarity, with any courage against the misuse of (antiSemitic) terminology," Mr Frydenberg said.
Former Labor senator Nova Peris supported the call, saying those spreading anti-Semitism must be held to account by authorities to prevent copycat acts.
"If there are no consequences it allows people to say: 'We can keep getting away with it'," she said. "It's madness that there are no consequences for the attacks of racial hatred on Jewish people in this country."
Mr Albanese met privately with Jewish community members at a synagogue in Perth on Saturday morning.
The meeting was closed off to media, though the Sunday Herald Sun understands Mr Albanese was invited to the community centre in central Perth and spoke there in the morning. It is understood about a hundred people filled the synagogue.
Late yesterday, Mr Albanese responded to the list of demands from Mr Frydenberg by issuing a statement on social media.
"Yesterday's despicable attack on a synagogue in Melbourne was anti-Semitic, it was un-Australian and it has added to the pain and grief Australia's Jewish community are dealing with.
"In this deeply distressing time, I want every member of the Jewish community to know our government unequivocally condemns the prejudice you have been targeted with. We stand with you."
Mr Frydenberg also called out Premier Jacinta Allan for "not stepping up".
"I want to see the Premier lean in, I want to see the Prime Minister step up, I don't want to see either of them step back," he said.
"Nova Peris and I stand before you, Christian and Jew, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, former Labor senator, former Liberal minister but most importantly of all, we are both Australian and we are both outraged by the firebombing."
Ms Allan described the attack on Adass Israel Synagogue as sickening and condemned it as an act of "cowardice, hate and fear".
"In this state, in this country, you have the right to practice your religion to go to shule, pray openly, and be proud of who you are, and not have to look over your shoulder," she said.
"Every available resource will be deployed to find these criminals who tried to tear a community apart." Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was part of the "overwhelming majority of the international community that wants to end the war".
"The UK, Canada, Germany 157 countries voted for this resolution, including Australia. Eight countries voted against," she said in a statement. "The Liberals also used to support a balanced, two-state solution but now they see political advantage in trying to reproduce the conflict here."
As of last ast night, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten was the only nly senior federal cabinet et minister to visit the synagogue nagogue ruins.
Criticism m has come swiftly with ith the government's ent's handling of the attack ack and a comm e n t from the Prime Minister that antiSemitism "has been around for a long period of time" earning a rebuke from former prime minister Tony Abbott.
"Just because a horror is hard to eradicate, or has been around a long time, doesn't make it any less vile," Mr Abbott said.
Opposition spokesman for home affairs James Paterson said the government had failed to protect the community.
He also demanded the PM explain whether or not the national security committee of cabinet had been bee convened to discuss the "crisis".
"The sad truth is that alleged arsonists the two alleg behind this attack are still at large, and there is a grave risk of others engaging in copy- gag cat ca attacks. So has h the NSC met? Has the federal government discussed what options they have to make sure no other acts like this are repeated in the future?" Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the Albanese government had been "crystal clear" in condemning Israel over the civilian death toll in Gaza but was "slow and ambiguous" in responding to a "crisis of multiculturalism".
"Australians don't expect this government to solve the Middle East but we do expect it to come to terms with the burning of places of worship and the relentless incitement that caused it."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also slammed Mr Albanese.
"Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia," he wrote on X.