Israeli Knesset member says Australian officials ‘did nothing’ amid rise of antisemitism before Sydney attack

Israeli Knesset Member Pnina Tamano-Shata joined a growing number of Israeli officials Monday in calling out the Australian government for allowing antisemitism to fester ahead of this weekend’s terrorist attack.

Tamano-Shata told Fox News Digital that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and others saw the growth of antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment “right in front of their eyes” in recent months. She said Australian officials had reports of rising antisemitism for months, “but they did nothing.”

“When governments around the world, and especially in Australia, don’t do something that they can do before something like this happens, they are giving in many ways a green light to antisemites and terrorists to hurt and to kill Jews,” Tamano-Shata said.

“The government doesn’t understand that anti-Israel ideas and antisemitism – it is the new antisemitism. There were a wide range of attacks before this happened. We see how they burned down a synagogue, we see how they attacked an Israeli restaurant,” she added. “This issue was in front of their eyes.”

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Tamano-Shata’s comments echo statements from Jewish leaders both in Israel and Australia in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Sydney on Sunday, which killed 15 people and hospitalized dozens more. The shooters targeted a Hanukkah celebration taking place at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach.

Dionne Taylor, the communications manager of the Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council, said it is a painful reality that the attack didn’t come without warning.

“We have been completely let down by our government,” Taylor told Fox News Digital. “We warned them that this snowball effect was going to happen, and it was only a matter of time before someone got killed.”

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“It started with hate speech,” she said. “Then graffiti. Then public demonstrations. Then firebombing synagogues, preschools, people’s homes, people’s cars. And now murder.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted a letter he sent to Albanese earlier this year when Albanese declared his support for a Palestinian state.

“Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets. Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent; it retreats when leaders act. I call upon you to replace weakness with action, appeasement with resolve,” Netanyahu read.

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“Instead, Prime Minister, you replaced weakness with weakness and appeasement with more appeasement. Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia. You did nothing to curb the cancer cells that were growing inside your country. You took no action. You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also released uncommonly stark statements following Sunday’s shooting, which killed at least 11 people and hospitalized 29. 

“Time and again we called on the Australian government to take action and fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism that is plaguing Australian society,” Herzog said in a statement on social media, posting an image of a prayer shawl stained in blood.

Saar added that the Australian government had ignored “countless warning signs” and called on leaders to “come to their senses.”

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.