Netanyahu escalates attack on Australia's Albanese as Jewish group urges calm

21/8/2025 15:39

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday stepped up his personal attacks on Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese over his government's decision to recognise a Palestinian state, saying Albanese's political record had been damaged forever.



Diplomatic ties between Australia and Israel have soured since Albanese's centre-left Labor government last week announced it would conditionally recognise Palestinian statehood, following similar moves by France, Britain and Canada.



The decision prompted Netanyahu to launch a personal attack on Albanese and he doubled down on his condemnation in an interview to be broadcast on Sky News Australia.



"I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of this Hamas terrorist monsters," Netanyahu said, after describing Albanese earlier this week as "a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews."



Sky News Australia released the comments ahead of the broadcast of the full interview on Thursday at 8 p.m.



Albanese on Wednesday played down Netanyahu's criticisms, saying he did not "take these things personally" and that he treated the leaders of other countries with respect.