Coalition slams Labor for referring to Islamophobia when calling out rise in anti-Semitism

The Coalition has slammed Labor for being unable to condemn anti-Semitism without mentioning Islamophobia, accusing the Government of failing Jewish Australians as the political fallout from Friday’s arson attack at a Melbourne synagogue continues.

Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have described the early morning firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea as terrorism, but a formal determination was made by the Australian Federal Police later on Monday.

In the wake of the attack, the Coalition have ramped up their attack on the Prime Minister for being “weak on anti-Semitism” since October 7, 2023, which they said led to Friday’s attack. Part of the problem, they say, is that the Prime Minister has been unable to refer to the rise in anti-Semitism without mentioning Islamophobia.

Home affairs spokesman James Paterson questioned why anti-Semitism couldn’t be denounced alone, saying there was no need to “balance communities’ experience of racism against each other”.

“I mean, it has often been the case over the last year when there’s been a horrific act of anti-Semitism that the Prime Minister and his senior ministers have stood up and said, we condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” he told ABC Radio.

“Both of those things are equally abhorrent, but they are not equally prevalent... And because the Prime Minister has been unable to call it out on its own when it happens, that has sent a very bad message to the Jewish community and others that their experience of racism, their experience of bigotry is not worthy of stand alone condemnation, that it has to be balanced against the condemnation against of other hatreds, and that is sending a bad message.”

In a heated interview immediately after, Labor minister Chris Bowen said: “they both exist, and they both can be called out and it is not diminishing one of the other to say that”.

“The Prime Minister has brought leadership to this matter; he’s tried to provide a moment of national unity. Peter Dutton brought politics, point scoring and a disgusting low-rent approach to this matter,” Mr Bowen said.

Meanwhile, Mr Dutton has made a major election policy announcement, vowing to do better by the Jewish community if the Coalition won the next election.

“A Dutton Coalition government will act from day one to fix Labor’s law enforcement crisis through a number of policy measures,” he announced on Monday morning.

He announced a special taskforce would be led by the AFP, ASIO, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, and AUSTRAC, and would be directed to refer any visa holders involved in acts of anti-Semitism for immediate cancellation and deportation.

Labor has been quick to point out that authorities already have powers to deport people or cancel someone’s visa if they fail the character test.

Mr Dutton also said a new ministerial direction would be issued to the AFP to prioritise addressing anti-Semitism, including any outstanding and unsolved crimes against the Jewish community since October 6, 2023, including doxxing, public display of terrorist symbols, incitement and harassment.

“This would include re-evaluation of any decisions to not proceed with charges for these offences,” Mr Dutton said.

He also vowed to amend the character provisions in the Migration Act to cover anti-Semitic conduct, and proved $32.5m in funding package requested by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

The Albanese Government committed to the funding on Sunday to enhance security for Jewish schools and synagogues, but the Coalition would allow that funding to be used for armed guards outside schools and synagogues.

“This will provide an opportunity for us to say in a very clear voice, unequivocally to the Australian people that we will not tolerate racism of any description, and we will not tolerate antisemitism in any form,” Mr Dutton said.

His announcement came after Jewish community groups called on Mr Albanese to urgently convene national cabinet and make sweeping changes to the law, education, policing and security settings to address the rise in anti-Semitism.

Mr Dutton also took aim at Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns, whose electorate is home to the Ripponlea synagogue, saying he had failed to stand up to the Prime Minister.

“When people were bought in from Gaza, people who hadn’t had the security checks undertaken on tourist visas, that’s when Josh Burns should have been speaking. Josh Burns should have been speaking up when the protests took place at the Opera House,” Dutton said.

“So I don’t doubt Josh Burns’s intent, his passion, but he’s part of a political party, which is the problem.”

Mr Burns said it didn’t “serve the Jewish community to be arguing amongst ourselves”.

“It doesn’t serve the Jewish community to be fighting amongst the political class. peter Dutton can say what he likes about me; I honestly couldn’t care less. I’m interested in supporting my community... in being a representative for them and to get things done for them so they can go about their lives and enjoy the multicultural Australia,” he said.

In the wake of Friday’s attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu linked the firebombing and rising anti-Semitism to Labor’s “extreme anti-Israel position”, referring to a recent UN vote and a visa stoush.

Mr Dreyfus said the foreign leader was “absolutely wrong”.

“Australia remains a close friend of Israel, as we have been since the Labor Government recognised the state of Israel when it was created by the United Nations,” he told ABC News.

“The disappointing me to me is that I had through that there would be, at a time like this, unity in Australia. I had thought everybody in Federal Parliament, everybody in political leadership in this country, would understand that this is a time to unite and set our faces against anti-Semitism and to say ‘we stand together against anti-Semitism’.

“Instead, what we have seen is criticism, is disunity, a call to divide from a number of senior Liberals... and it’s disappointing that that’s the stance they have taken. This is not a time for partisan bickering or to seek party advantage.”

Mr Dreyfus said he, like every Australian Jew, was experiencing unprecedented levels of anti-Semitism.

“That has got to stop. It’s not a time for finger-pointing, it’s not a time for cheap criticisms. It’s a time for unity and I’m waiting for it,” he said.