Why has Australia turned so bitterly against Israel?

It was just two years ago that Anthony Albanese of the country’s Labor Party became Australia’s 31st prime minister, beating out Scott Morrison who was known for his support of Israel, who continued to show his solidarity with the Jewish homeland as he visited in November, touring the sites where the greatest savagery had been perpetrated by Hamas terrorists.

Commenting on what he saw, the ex-PM “denounced the ‘moral fog’ which he says is prevalent overseas, obscuring the October 7th attack and stating that “no one should be telling Israel how to prevent a reoccurrence of it.”

But regrettably, Morrison is no longer at the Australian helm, and his replacement does not sympathize with the citizens whose family and friends had the misfortune of witnessing a second holocaust on their own soil, otherwise, they might not be calling for a two-state solution.

Just two days ago, Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong made the following statement, “a pathway out of the endless cycle of violence in the Middle East can only come with the recognition of a ‘Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel.’”

The remark was terribly egregious, because the phrase, “endless cycle of violence,” actually places Israel on the same level as Hamas with no recognizable difference between the two. She is essentially saying that both attack, and both need to stop, but such a representation is dishonest and willfully ignorant. It is dishonest because it fails to give any context to how the massacre began and that Israel is exercising her sovereign right, as would all countries, to defend its citizens from a repeat attack.

It is willfully ignorant, because Wong, who should, rather be called “Wrong,” certainly has received all of the news reports, along with the rest of the world, as to what took place on that fateful day of October 7th, when the most heinous crimes against humanity occurred, filmed in real-time, by evil monsters who masqueraded as reporters in order to document the evil which they felt was justified – otherwise why wouldn’t they have refused to be part of such a depraved and wicked act?

So, given the fact that Wong knows the facts, why would she use that fallacious and dishonest characterization of “cycle of violence?”

Furthermore, Wong paid a visit to the region in January, refusing to view the massacred sites but, instead, chose to meet with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah, which attests to the place where her loyalties lie. It was there that “Australia was urged to recognize Palestinian statehood.”  

According to the Australian Jewish Association (AJA), a Melbourne-based secular organization which acts as a voice for the country’s Jewish community, the Albanese government is “behaving like extremists who never grew out of radical student politics, willing to sell out Jews for votes.”

In short, the Albanese government has been accused by them of “being weak on national security and terrorism while pandering to Islamic terrorists.” A media statement put out by the AJA has called the government “morally corrupt by reacting to the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, rewarding the murderers” with a state of their own. 

Additionally, the AJA has cited “Australian taxpayer money as being given to causes that incite and contribute to terrorism.” Consequently, the Albanese government is viewed by its Jewish community as having betrayed them and having the distinction of being the most antagonistic towards them in the history of the country.

But is it merely based on extreme, radical ideology, similar to that which is inculcated on university campuses or is there a much larger and more nefarious plan behind their position?

According to the Australian 2011 census, Muslims made up around 2.2% of the population. Today, it has grown to 3.2%, with a total of 813,392 who identify as followers of Islam. The Australian Muslim Party was founded in 2015, by then 34-year-old businessman, Diaa Mohamed, supposedly “to counter the spread of anti-Islamic politics in the country and the need to have a voice in Australia.”

Now, as a reckoning voice, they have, in true form, played the victim card, accusing the Australian Labor Party of “taking them for granted by not addressing their deep concerns about the war in Gaza.” And what better time to put the squeeze on the ruling party than now?

It doesn’t matter that the Albanese government has been critical of Israel’s response to the massacre. The Muslim Party wants more. The worrisome “electoral backlash from Arab and Muslim voters,” who have traditionally supported the Labor Party cannot be ignored, because their leverage is significant, similar to what has happened in the U.S. as voters have threatened to withhold their vote from Biden.

The consequence of Labor, losing seats is so frightening to them, that it could explain Wong’s dishonest and willfully ignorant remark, meant to salvage an already angry constituency which now has the power to be the kingmaker, not to mention wielding their influence in the future. So much for the concept of an independent-thinking government which makes policy based on their own positions. These days, the name of the game is not necessarily to win the majority, because that is not possible in an overwhelmingly non-Muslim country, but the next best thing is to hijack the sitting government which does rule. And apparently that is what has happened in Australia.

But there’s a cost to that, and if Labor has chosen to pay that price, it means that they will do whatever it takes to retain their power, even if it means selling out their Jewish population, many of whom have also gravitated to the party, then so be it. After all, the Jewish community only makes up 0.4% of the overall population, and so by those calculations, perhaps Labor feels that it’s more worthwhile to court the larger 3.2% of the Muslim population, at this point. Definitely makes sense.

However, such a decision could result in grave consequences for the Australian Jewish community which would become a marginalized and disenfranchised segment of the population, even to the point of repudiation and contempt. 

How will that kind of fallout impact Australia’s Jews? No longer feeling welcomed in the place they’ve called home since 1788 when the first Jews arrived on their shores, will almost assuredly make them realize that there is no longer any future for them there.

That day is fast approaching, and, once they leave, it could be that the “protective hedge” which they represented, as God’s Chosen People in Australia, will have been removed, not boding well for the people of The Land Down Under.