The Australian government has returned serve after a remarkable sledge by Israel’s prime minister, with a senior minister calling out Benjamin Netanyahu for “blowing up” Palestinians and starving children.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke defended his decision to deny a visa to far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, who was set to undertake a speaking tour of Australia at the invitation of a fringe Jewish group.
The Israeli government retaliated by cancelling the visas of three Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority and ordering embassy staff to apply extra scrutiny to Australian applications to enter Israel.
But the diplomatic spat erupted on Tuesday night when Mr Netanyahu called his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese a “weak politician” in a social media post.
Mr Burke said the increasingly “isolated” Israeli prime minister was lashing out, like he had done to other Western leaders who in recent weeks had vowed to recognise Palestinian statehood.
“Strength is not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry. Strength is much better measured by exactly what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done,” he told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.
“When there’s a decision that we know Israel won’t like, he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu, he has the conversation, he says exactly what we’re intending to do, and has the chance for the objections to be made person-to-person.”
In revoking the visas of the Australian diplomats, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar cited Australia’s decision to recognise Palestine, as well as the refusal to grant visas to Mr Rothman and former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked.
Mr Burke said he had a responsibility to not “hold out a welcome mat” to people with extreme views.
“One of them has described Palestinian children as the enemy, and the other has described Palestinian children as little snakes – as little snakes,” he said.
“Now, if anyone wanted to come on a public speaking tour and they had those views publicly expressed about Israeli children, I would block the visa, and I’m going to not have a lower bar for the protection of views that are bigoted views against the Palestinian people.”
Opposition home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie said he didn’t agree with Mr Rothman’s views but the decision to refuse his visa had further damaged Australia’s relationship with Israel.
“The important thing to note is that the relationship with Israel now is at an all-time low, and that’s largely because of the Albanese foreign policy incompetence from this government,” he told ABC Radio National.
Mr Burke had been “inconsistent” in his application of standards to visa approvals, Mr Hastie added.
British commentator Sami Hamdi was allowed to enter Australia for a speaking tour in 2024, despite earlier comments celebrating Hamas’ October 7 attacks, he said.
But Mr Burke pointed to decisions to block people who had expressed anti-Semitic views, such as Kanye West, from entering the country.
“It seems that the coalition only believe I should be rejecting people if they will cause harm to the Jewish community,” he said.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said it was unacceptable for Mr Netanyahu to publicly insult a fellow world leader, but Mr Burke’s comments were also out of line.
“… Both parties are acting contrary to the interest of the people they’re seeking to represent and serve … They need to find a new course and a new way of dealing with each other and doing business, because this is entirely counterproductive,” he told Sky News.
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