Anthony Albanese has been accused of “gaslighting the Australian Jewish community” ahead of two United Nations votes involving Israel.
Australia is tipped to back two UN resolutions on Thursday calling for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the reversal of Israel’s decision to ban the main UN aid agency operating in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Coalition frontbencher James Paterson warned ahead of the vote that supporting the resolutions would embolden anti-Semites in Australia.
“One of the reasons why this is important is not just because our foreign policy is important, not just because standing with our allies and friends like the United States is important, but because we know that anti-Semites in Australia conflate Israel with Jews,” Senator Paterson told Sky News.
“We had another powerful demonstration of that this week in Sydney, where cars in an area populated by the Jewish community were set on fire and graffiti targeted Israel.
“They don’t draw any distinction between Israel and Jews.
“So when the Australian government abandons, or, even worse, vilifies Israel, anti-Semites take encouragement from that and (it) gives them licence.”
Israel’s parliament voted to ban UNRWA. Picture: Jack Guez / AFP
Israel’s parliament voted to ban UNRWA, described by aid groups as the “backbone” of humanitarian efforts in Gaza, after the Netanyahu government claimed some staff had ties to Hamas.
The ban is set to come into force in January and would prevent UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory, making it much harder for the organisation to get much-needed aid into Gaza.
The Albanese government, which has long called for a ceasefire, has joined most of Israel’s Western allies in opposing the ban on UNRWA.
More to come