Wong defends criticism of Israel, rebukes Dutton
By Matthew Knott, Josefine Ganko and Nick Bonyhady
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has insisted criticism of Israel is not antisemitic as Jewish Labor backbencher Josh Burns accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of stopping a Liberal frontbencher from reading a statement on his behalf on the day of the Melbourne synagogue firebombing.
Pushing back on scathing criticism of the Australian government by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Wong said Australia expected Israel to comply with international law in the same way it expected authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China to do so.
Burns, whose electorate of Macnamara contains the Adass Israel synagogue, held a joint press conference with opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson on Friday after the firebombing.
Burns said because he had lost his voice at the time, Paterson agreed to read out a statement on his behalf expressing devastation at the attack and condemning antisemitism.
“Unfortunately, right before we got on … Peter Dutton told James that he wasn’t allowed to read out my words,” Burns told ABC Radio National.
“I wanted to stand out with James and present a united front on this. And Peter Dutton decided that it was more important to play partisan games than to allow my words that I physically couldn’t speak to be read out.”
Burns’ statement was instead read by Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion.
“The attack was a disgrace and extremely dangerous,” Burns said via Aghion. “The rise in antisemitism in Australia is shocking and it needs to stop. I’m standing here with James because we need to confront this together. I hope those injured make a full recovery and may those who committed the crime feel the full force of the law.”
Paterson issued a brief written statement in response.
“I feel very sorry that Josh Burns and his community have been abandoned by the Labor Party in the wake of this terrorist attack,” Paterson said. “But it is not the role of a Liberal frontbencher to act as a spokesman for a Labor MP. One of the many senior Albanese government ministers from Victoria should have been there to speak if Josh was not able to.”
On Monday, Dutton accused Burns of losing his voice “long before Friday”, saying he failed to stand up to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his response to antisemitism.
Delivering a speech in Adelaide on Monday night in honour of late prime minister Bob Hawke, Wong condemned the Addas Israel synagogue bombing as “a shocking crime” aimed at causing terror in the community.
“We know that cruel acts of antisemitism evoke some of the darkest episodes in the history of the Jewish people,” she said.
She added that “Australia and Israel are democracies where our citizens can agree or disagree with individual policies or actions of their governments.
“The fact that we are both democracies should mean that there is respect for disagreement.”
In a clear response to Netanyahu’s weekend claim that “anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism”, Wong said: “It is not antisemitic to expect that Israel should comply with the international law that applies to all countries.
“Nor is it antisemitic to call for children and other civilians to be protected, or to call for a two-state solution that enables Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security.”
Saying that Australia respected the independence of the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza, Wong said: “Australia can’t pick and choose which rules we are going to apply.
“We expect Russia to abide by international law and end its illegal full-scale war on Ukraine.
“We expect China to abide by international legal decisions in the South China Sea.
“We also expect Israel to abide by international law.”
Wong also criticised Dutton directly, two days after the opposition leader called on Albanese to “rein in” his foreign minister.
Referring to the international push for a two-state solution, Wong said: “It is for Mr Dutton to explain why he has walked away from decades of bipartisan support for it – and why he is insistent on reproducing the conflict here, rather than defending national unity.”
She also condemned “politicians on the right and left who see their own interests in making Australians turn on each other”.
She said unnamed politicians were “trying to convert global uncertainty into domestic anxiety.
“Exploiting the trend towards echo chambers, where people only hear bad things about others, and don’t see for themselves what’s good about others.
“There are too many politicians and activists whose business model is outrage.”
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