The Worst Govt at the Worst Time

Australia has long been dubbed ‘the lucky country’, but it’s clear that in the worst global crisis in nigh on a century, our luck has well and truly run out. At a time when the world is in greater peril than since 1962, Australia is cursed with the weakest leadership in the face of global tyranny than France and Britain in the 1930s.

At least Chamberlain and Daladier had the poor excuse of being at best deluded to the true nature of the Nazi monster, and sincerely determined to buy peace in their time. Anthony Albanese and his craven, iniquitous government are not just weak, but all too obviously determined to buy votes from the worst people, at any price.

Australia has broken ranks with the US in refusing to recognise the “necessity” of dismantling Hez­bollah’s strike capabilities against ­Israel, after the Jewish state launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon in a major ­escalation of the unfolding Middle East conflict.

The split comes as one of the nation’s leading rabbis accused the government of contributing to “growing anti-Jewish sentiment” and Peter Dutton called for new federal hate speech laws to be ­enforced by police or, if required, for Labor to urgently recall parliament to strengthen them.

The Opposition Leader told The Australian the Albanese government’s “abandonment of ­Israel” was the “worst foreign ­affairs call in our generation” and a “disaster for our security ­interests.”

But Albanese’s craven weakness this week is just another day in a deplorable record stretching back to October 7, 2023.

While most of us saw the horror of that ghastly day play out live, as Hamas boastfully broadcast its atrocious brutality to the world, Albanese took nearly a day to even issue a statement. He has never once visited Israel to show solidarity. He refused to visit an Australian synagogue for six months.

And he did nothing when a Muslim mob stormed a memorial vigil at the Sydney Opera House on October 9, chanting ‘Gas the Jews!’ (In a totally unconvincing attempt at an excuse, NSW police claim the mob really chanted ‘Where’s the Jews?’ – as if that’s any less threatening.)

Mr Dutton argued that Labor had “sowed the seeds” of anti-Semitism by not sufficiently condemning the Sydney Opera House protests on October 9 last year or encouraging authorities to take action against participants.

Rabbinical Council of Australasia president Rabbi Nochum Schapiro said it was “clear that not enough has been done to effectively combat anti-Semitism” and the weekend demonstrations served as another example of “anti-­Semitic hate”.

To make it worse, Albanese chose to use the very day thousands of Hezbollah supporters marched in Australian cities to announce an ‘Islamophobia envoy’.

As if we needed any more proof of Albanese’s malignity, when you’re deeper in left anti-Semitism than the Biden administration then the jig really is up.

As Israel began limited operations in southern Lebanon to try to end the nearly year-long campaign of rocket, missile and drone attacks against the Jewish state, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin endorsed military operations aimed at dismantling Hezbollah’s offensive capabilities and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran.

So, how does Albanese’s poisonous foreign affairs minister respond? By demanding an immediate ceasefire and smearing Israel with alleged war crimes. Penny Wong is nothing if not consistently disgusting.

On October 7 last year, hours after Hamas terrorists murdered and took hostage Israelis, Penny Wong urged “the exercise of restraint and protection of civilian lives”.

Once again, at least Peter Dutton is standing on the side of humanity.

Mr Dutton said the government’s “abandonment” of Israel was “the worst foreign affairs call in our generation”.

“It is a disaster for our security interests, for Australians of Jewish heritage and for every decent Australian,” Mr Dutton said.

Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said […] Australia should “do the exact same thing”. “You would really struggle to find an Australian statement which in any way looks at the realities of the situation Israel faces,” he said.

As Rabbi Schapiro says, ‘when it comes to anti-Semitic hate (in Australia), we’ve seen little to no such action.’

Why are Albanese and his government like this? A craven desperation for votes.

Under pressure from Labor’s left flank, the Greens and fear of losing support in traditionally safe ALP seats with high numbers of Muslim voters, the government has split from the US and other Western allies on Israel in the United Nations.

Albanese is desperate to keep the votes of people who actively hate, not just Jews, but Australia, and democracy itself.

During a period of high immigration (more than 1.2 million in two years) […] many immigrants have little or no previous exposure to the norms of a free democratic society, with some coming from lawless or terrorist-sympathising countries. How do they know the boundaries if those boundaries are not enforced?

We are now witnessing these protests move beyond an attack on the Jewish community and mutate into a wider attack on Australian democracy.

And we are cursed with the weakest leadership since Honorious, when the gates of Rome were thrown open to the invading barbarians.

We’ve already opened the gates: the sack of democracy is imminent.