December 10, 2024
Senior Coalition figures have accused Foreign Minister Penny Wong of dog-whistling and creating a “climate of fear" for Jewish Australians through her provocative language against Israel.
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson and Liberal Senator Dave Sharma are urging Ms Wong to tone down her rhetoric and to stop fanning the flames of antisemitism.
Their strongest comments yet come after Wong compared the liberal democracy of Israel with evil dictatorships, Russia and China in a speech in Adelaide on Monday.
Paterson said that Wong’s remarks showed the Albanese government had learned nothing from the terrorist attack last week at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.
“For the Foreign Minister to compare Israel, a friendly liberal democracy, to two authoritarian states, is an outrageous slur,” he told Sky News Australia.
“It continues Labor’s campaign of vilification against the Jewish state and contributes to the climate of fear Jewish Australians are feeling right now.
“The Foreign Minister should tone down her attacks on Israel before it gets even worse.”
Australia’s former ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, also urged the Foreign Minister to calm down her language, accusing her of dog-whistling.
“I think the government’s actively seeking to delegitimise and discredit Israel and the result is it’s giving license and encouragement to people who want to take matters into their own hands and target Jewish Australians,” he said.
“It’s effectively like a dog whistle where on the one hand they condemn antisemitism but on the other hand they fuel the conditions which are giving rise to it.”
In the wake of the terror attack on the Adass synagogue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also accused the Albanese Government of antisemitic rhetoric.
“Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia…Anti-Israel sentiment is anti-Semitism,” he said.
In a speech on Monday night, Senator Wong rejected the suggestion that criticism of Israel was antisemitic.
But her speech was highly provocative. She compared Israel with dictatorships Russia and China and, yet again implied it was engaging in unlawful warfare.
“It is not antisemitic to expect that Israel should comply with the international law that applies to all countries,” she said.
