Australia Attacks Netanyahu: Power is Not Measured by Destruction and Starvation

SadaNews - Today, Wednesday, Australia launched a fierce attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for accusing its Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of weakness and betraying Israel.

In response to Netanyahu's statement, Australian Interior Minister Tony Burke told the public television network "ABC" that "power is not measured by the number of people you can blow up or by the number of children you can leave starving," referring to the massacres and starvation perpetrated by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Burke added that true strength is what Albanese did when he made a decision that he knew Israel would not like, but he confronted Netanyahu directly and informed him of Australia's position.

For decades, Australia has considered itself a close friend of Israel, but the relationship between them quickly deteriorated after Canberra announced last week that it would recognize the State of Palestine during the United Nations General Assembly meetings in September.

Last Monday, Australia canceled the visa of Simcha Rothman, a far-right MP from the Religious Zionism party led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, citing concerns that his statements would create divisions in Australian society if he visited its territory.

The next day, Israel responded by canceling the visas of Australian diplomats accredited to the Palestinian Authority, a decision that Canberra strongly criticized.

After that, Netanyahu accused the Australian Prime Minister of being a "weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned the Jews of Australia."

In the 1950s, the city of Melbourne in southeastern Australia opened its arms to Jews fleeing the horrors of the Holocaust, making it, in proportion to its total population, home to the largest number of Holocaust survivors after Israel.