Geographically, eastern Australia is about as far from Israel and Gaza as anyone can get. But given the Australian government’s provocative decision to recognise a Palestinian state while Hamas still exists, you could be forgiven for thinking the conflict is being fought on our doorstep. And on Tuesday, it was revealed that, in a very real sense, it is.
Thanks to Iran and the IRGC, and at least partly because of the anti-Jewish hostility that has afflicted Australia since 7 October, the Gaza conflict has been brought here
In a dramatic press conference outside his Parliament House office in Canberra, Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese, flanked by his home and foreign affairs ministers and the heads of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO, Australia’s MI5), revealed the startling truth behind the violent, anti-Semitic attacks that have struck fear and hurt into Australia’s Jewish community.
Albanese confirmed that both the ASIO and the AFP attribute the firebombing last December of the Adass synagogue in suburban Melbourne, an arson attack on a Jewish-owned business in Sydney’s Bondi, and possibly other incidents, to Iran’s fanatical Islamist regime.
‘These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil. They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community’, said Albanese.
‘Our painstaking investigation uncovered and unpicked the links between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC. The IRGC used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement’, added ASIO’s director-general, Mike Burgess.
Home Affairs minister, Tony Burke – who just last week ripped into Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over Israel’s push to occupy all Gaza – declared, ‘there is anti-Semitism in Australia. It is real, it is debilitating, yet this attack was driven by anti-Semitism that originated in Iran. That said, nothing changes the fact that it was an antisemitic attack, and nothing changes the fact that the impact is identical. For some anti-Semitic elements in Australia, the attack has emboldened them.’
Albanese announced the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadegi, has been given his marching orders, and will be expelled with several other Iranian embassy staff. This is the first expulsion of an ambassador by Australia since enemy diplomats were expelled in the second world war. Australia’s mission in Tehran has been closed, putting Australia-Iran diplomatic relations on ice. Since 7 October, Sadegi has been enthusiastic and outspoken in support of Iran’s anti-Israel and anti-Jewish campaigns, but the revelation that his country is implicated directly in actually executing acts of terror was still chilling.
Having resisted doing so since 7 October, Albanese also announced the IRGC is being proscribed by Australia as a terrorist organisation. Albanese’s excuse for not doing it before was that the IRGC is a state actor, not a terrorist group. That the United States, Canada, Sweden, and even Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have done so – although Britain has yet to follow suit – was brushed aside.
‘The Australian people want the killing and hatred to stop, and they don’t want the conflict in the Middle East brought here,’ Albanese also said today.
It might have been far more helpful, however, had the Australian prime minister been as blunt immediately after 7 October 2023, when pro-Palestinian protesters near the Sydney Opera House got away with targeting Australian Jews with the ugliest of anti-Semitic slurs and taunts. Ever since, Australia’s Jewish community has lived in fear and, as the fallout from Albanese’s recent decision to recognise a Palestinian state has proven, they can’t be confident that their government has their back. Today’s response doesn’t change that.
It took the AFP and ASIO to bring Australia’s political leadership to its senses and, even then, the government’s unwillingness to act against Iran and the IRGC was palpable. But, better late than never, at least it has made the right decision now.
Thanks to Iran and the IRGC, and at least partly because of the anti-Jewish hostility that has afflicted Australia since 7 October, the Gaza conflict has been brought here. Australia’s government must accept a share of responsibility for this climate of fear. Albanese and his ministers will deny it, but their failure to be decisive before now, and their marked reluctance to embrace Jewish Australians when their support was needed most, reflects poorly on them.
Comments