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Israeli officials were quick to lay blame for the deadly shooting in Sydney, Australia, at the feet of the nation’s government on Sunday, saying it had ignored “countless warning signs” of antisemitism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read aloud at a government meeting a letter that he sent to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this year when Albanese declared his 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.
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Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also released uncommonly stark statements following Sunday’s shooting, which killed at least 11 people and hospitalized 29.
“Time and again we called on the Australian government to take action and fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism that is plaguing Australian society,” Herzog said in a statement on social media, posting an image of a prayer shawl stained in blood.
Saar was even more heavily critical of Australian authorities, arguing they had ignored clear signs of rising Islamist extremism and antisemitism.
“I am appalled by the murderous shooting attack at a Hanukkah event in Sydney, Australia. This is the result of the antisemitic rampage in the streets of Australia over the past two years, including the antisemitic and inciting calls of ‘Globalize the Intifada,’ which were realized today,” Saar said in a statement, sharing the same photo as Herzog.
“The Australian government, which received countless warning signs, must come to its senses!” he added.
Police say at least two gunmen participated in Sunday’s attack, which targeted a Jewish “Chanukah By The Sea” event at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach. One of the alleged gunmen was killed in the attack, and the other is hospitalized. Police are investigating whether there may have been a third shooter.
Police say they also found evidence of multiple improvised explosive devices in a vehicle near the scene of the attack.
“We have our rescue bomb disposal unit there at the moment working on that,” said the police commissioner for New South Wales.
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Albanese condemned Sunday’s attack and the targeting of Jewish Australians.
