Netanyahu: Aussie PM is ‘weak,’ has ‘abandoned’ Australian Jews

Australia experienced a fourfold increase in documented antisemitic incidents in 2024—the steepest rise among English-speaking countries.

By David Isaac, JNS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday slammed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a weak leader after Canberra canceled the visa of a Knesset member who had been planning to visit the country.

“History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews,” Netanyahu posted to X.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also weighed in, describing the Australian government’s decision as “shameful” during an interview with The Erin Molan Show.

“Instead of battling against antisemitism in Australia, as they should, they are doing the opposite. They are fueling antisemitism by these mad decisions to ban from Australia Israeli politicians and other figures,” Sa’ar said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Australia denied entry to Israeli parliamentarian Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) ahead of his planned solidarity visit to the country’s Jewish community.

The move follows other visa cancellations by Australia, including that of Hillel Fuld, a pro-Israel social media personality, in June, and in November 2025 of former Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.

In retaliation for banning Rothman, Sa’ar on Monday revoked the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority.

In response, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong posted a statement to her ministry’s website on Tuesday:

“At a time when dialogue and diplomacy are needed more than ever, the Netanyahu Government is isolating Israel and undermining international efforts towards peace and a two-state solution. This is an unjustified reaction, following Australia’s decision to recognize Palestine.”

The Australian government’s pretext for cancelling Rothman’s visa was that he would “spread a message of hate and division,” according to Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.

In addition to the visa cancellation, Australia hit Rothman with a three-year ban from visiting the country.

“This decision by the Australian government is essentially caving to terror. There is no other way to see it. The messages they accused me of spreading are simply that Hamas is bad and Israel is good—positions that enjoy broad consensus in Israel and in any freedom-loving country,” Rothman told JNS on Monday.

Rothman argued that views such as condemning Hamas, urging the world to side with Israel, holding Hamas responsible for Palestinian suffering and warning that a Palestinian state threatens Israel’s survival are not just his personal positions but reflect a resolution supported by two-thirds of the Knesset.

He maintained that Australia’s decision was, therefore, directed not at him individually but at the State of Israel.

Robert Gregory, CEO of the Australian Jewish Association (AJA), a politically conservative Jewish group, called the last-minute visa cancellation “a viciously antisemitic move from a government that is obsessed with targeting the Jewish community and Israel.”

Wong said in her statement on Tuesday that “the Australian Government will always take decisive action against antisemitism.”

Australia experienced a fourfold increase in documented antisemitic incidents in 2024—the steepest rise among English-speaking countries with available data—according to the J7 Annual Report on Antisemitism 2025, published in May 2025.

That followed a Dec. 2024 report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which found in the 12 months following the Hamas attack (Oct. 2023 to Sept. 2024), there was a 316% increase in the overall number of reported antisemitic incidents in Australia compared to the same period the previous year.