Of all the people Anthony Albanese could have sent to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, why Penny Wong? Sure, she may be Albanese’s foreign minister, but it’s hard to imagine a least apropos person to send to an event memorialising deadly anti-Semitism. Perhaps if Keir Starmer had sent Jeremy Corbyn. Or Donald Trump had sent David Duke.
After all, Wong spent over a year refusing to visit Israel to show solidarity in the wake of the worst instance of deadly anti-Semitism in 80 years. Even when, grudgingly, she graced the Israelis with her presence, she pointedly avoided visiting any of the October 7 massacre sites. Instead, she finger-wagged Israel about the plight of ‘Palestinians’. Just as she has been unable, on the rare occasions she has even acknowledged anti-Semitism at all, to avoid throwing in a reflexive, ‘…and Islamophobia’.
Wong is, like Albanese, a creature of Labor’s left faction – and Labor’s left faction is virulently anti-Semitic. “This decision,” wrote the Australian Jewish News, “is an insult to the ashes and memories of Auschwitz’s victims.”
The federal government has faced criticism over its response to several antisemitic attacks in recent months, including a terror attack at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, an attack on a synagogue in Sydney, an arson attempt at a childcare centre in Maroubra and several cases of anti-Jewish vandalism of cars and homes.
Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of national cabinet at short notice, several weeks after being called on to do so by Jewish lobby groups, and more than a year after the Coalition had first demanded a meeting of the nation’s governments.
And it voted to do absolutely nothing of any consequence. Its sole outcome was an agreement to establish a register to track anti-Semitic incidents.
On Friday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton added that he did not think Senator Wong should be leading the delegation to Auschwitz because of the federal government’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza.
He suggested Senator Wong was “the most inappropriate” person to represent Australia, saying Australia’s relationship with Israel had been “trashed” and Senator Wong had “real issues in relation to this issue”.
Labor’s faux-outraged demands to not ‘politicise’ the anti-Semitism crisis are disgusting crocodile tears. After all, it is Labor who have relentlessly politicised the post-October 7 surge in anti-Semitism. All to win a few cheap votes in Western Sydney.
It’s also telling that neither of the taxpayer-funded broadcasters bothered to even cover the event at Auschwitz.
Neither of Australia’s public broadcasters, the ABC and SBS, will be on the ground in Poland for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Monday. It’s likely to be the last such service attended by survivors of the unspeakable events that occurred at the concentration camp.
TV crews from Nine and Seven will be there to cover the event, as will print and digital journalists from News Corp and Nine Entertainment mastheads.
Yet, the ABC in 2023 sent 37 staff, costing the taxpayer $150,000, to the Aboriginal ‘Garma’ festival, which it used as a platform to spruik the upcoming ‘Voice’ election.
Why are Australian taxpayers still funding these hateful, extremist media entities?
