Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus accuses Peter Dutton of trying to ‘silence’ him from speaking about anti-Semitism

The government’s most senior Jewish minister has accused Peter Dutton of trying to “silence” him on speaking about anti-Semitism following a failed attempt stop Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus from speaking during question time. Mr Dreyfus refuted claims from the Opposition Leader that the Jewish community “wouldn’t be that complimentary of the contribution or lack there of that’s been made by the Attorney-General”. Mr Dutton also said Mr Dreyfus should not have suggested the Liberals were “politicising anti-Semitism” and backed Liberal MP Michael Sukkar’s call for Mr Dreyfus to “no longer be heard” during question time on Monday, prompting furore from Labor MPs. “The claim yesterday by somebody who’s been largely absent from the public debate on anti-Semitism over the last 15 months that somehow the Coalition is politicising the issue of anti-Semitism is a disgraceful slur,” Mr Dutton said. “So I’m not going to stand being accused of that. We’ve supported the Jewish community … I would have the same stance in relation to any other element of society that has been targeted in the way that the Jewish community is.” In response, Mr Dreyfus said Mr Dutton’s claims were a “complete fabrication” and called on the Coalition for bipartisan support against rising anti-Semitic attacks in Australia. . “I never thought I’d see the day when a Liberal leader would try to silence a Jew for speaking about anti-Semitism in the Australian parliament,” he said. “I stand by everything I said yesterday. “We need to put an end to the wave of anti-Semitism in this country, which is exactly what the government I am a part of has worked tirelessly to do. The only way that will happen is if there is unity and bipartisanship.” Mr Sukkar’s attempt to silence Mr Dreyfus was also condemned by Anthony Albanese as being “completely unacceptable”. “The idea that the minister should withdraw a statement is totally inconsistent with things that have been said by those opposite over a considerable period of time,” the Prime Minister said. “(Mr Dreyfus) is someone who feels (anti-Semitism) this very personally and deeply, he was being interjected against by those opposite in behaviour that I regard as completely disorderly and completely unacceptable.” At the time, Mr Dreyfus was speaking about actions he’d taken against anti-Semitism, including attending the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in Poland and visiting the grounds of the Nova music festival where Israeli hostages were captured by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023. Following Monday’s chaotic blow-up, Mr Dreyfus urged “unity”. “I’m the son and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. I went to the commemoration about the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a place where a million Jews were murdered, a place where my great-grandmother was murdered on the 13th of October 1942,” he said. “I say to members of this House that we’ve had a wave of anti-Semitism in this country, and right now, what we need is unity. “We need bipartisanship, and that’s the effort that our government made.”