Israeli officials blamed Australia for anti-Semitism ahead of Sydney attack

Israeli Knesset member Pnina Tamano-Shata joined a growing number of Israeli officials on Monday in calling on the Australian government to allow anti-Semitism to fester in the face of this weekend’s terror attack.

Tamano-Shata told Fox News Digital that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and others have seen the rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment “right before their eyes” in recent months. She said Australian officials had reports growing anti-Semitism for months, “but they did nothing.”

“When governments in the world, and especially in Australiadon’t do something they can do before something like this happens, you are in many ways giving a green light to anti-Semites and terrorists to hurt and kill Jews,” Tamano-Shata said.

“The government does not understand that anti-Israel ideas and anti-Semitism – it is the new anti-Semitism. There was a wide range of attacks before this happened. We saw how they burned a synagogue, we see how they attacked an Israeli restaurant,” he added. “This matter was before his eyes.”

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Tamano-Shata’s comments echoed statements by Jewish leaders in Israel and Australia after the terrorist attack in Sydney on Sunday, which killed 15 people and hospitalized dozens more. The shooters targeted a Hanukkah celebration taking place on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach.

Dionne Taylor, the director of communications for the Australia/Israel Council of Jewish Affairs, said it was a painful reality that the attack did not come without warning.

“We’ve been completely ignored by our government,” Taylor told Fox News Digital. “We warned that this snowball effect was going to happen, and it was only a matter of time before someone got killed.”

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“It started with hate speech“, he said. “Then graffiti. After public demonstration. Then bombs synagogues, kindergartens, people’s houses, people’s cars. And now murder.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu He pointed to a letter he sent to Albanese earlier this year when Albanese declared his support for a Palestinian state.

“Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the anti-Semitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It encourages those who threaten Australian Jews and encourages the hatred of the Jews who are now stalking your streets. Anti-Semitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders are silent; it retreats when leaders act. I call on you to replace weakness with action, apply resolve.

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“Instead, Prime Minister, you replaced weakness with weakness and appeasement with more appeasement. Your government did nothing to prevent the spread of anti-Semitism in Australia. You did nothing to stop the cancer cells that were growing in your country. You did not take action. Let the disease spread and the result is the horrible attacks on Jews that we have seen today,” said Netanyahu.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also issued unusually harsh statements after Sunday’s shooting, which killed at least 11 people and injured 29.

“Again and again we called to the Australian government to act and fight against the huge wave of anti-Semitism plaguing Australian society,” Herzog said in a statement on social media, posting an image of a blood-stained prayer shawl.

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Saar added that the Australian government had ignored “countless warning signs” and called on leaders to “come to their senses”.

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.