Why Criticize Netanyahu When You Can Complain About the Antisemitic Australians?
The Israeli media's response to the terror in Australia last week set a new low
Yasmin Levy, Haaretz
03:44 PM • December 21 2025 IST
It "pours fuel on the antisemitic fire." Those were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's words for the Australian government last week after terrorists at Sydney's Bondi Beach killed 15 people, most of them Jews.
Netanyahu is the one who has a war-crime arrest warrant out on him at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In his violent revenge campaign he killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and made Israel more hated than ever; he doesn't miss an opportunity to incite people and ruin diplomatic relations.
Shamelessly, Netanyahu has called Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a "weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews." This sad statement can actually describe Netanyahu, who has abandoned the democratic values that protected Israel and now sees anyone who doesn't support him as a traitor. He lets his racist government impose terror on "the Arabs."
He ignored the defense chiefs' warnings before Hamas' invasion, but in his speech he painted himself as a prophet of wrath and disturbingly linked the terrorist attack with Albanese's recognition of a Palestinian state. This is the same Palestinian state that Netanyahu recognized in the past and that appears – what a surprise – in the cease-fire agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Only a very few Israeli TV journalists made this obvious fact clear after the Sydney attack, or disagreed with Netanyahu's simplistic equation. For example, Arab Israeli TV newsreader and journalist Lucy Aharish mentioned it in an interview with Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations.
"Maybe this argument can be improved?" she asked, adding: "It's very hard to defend Israel when Ben-Gvir comes up with a noose pin" – the pin that mimics the yellow-ribbon pin for the hostages; National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir seeks the death penalty for terrorists. Aharish also mentioned the "dropping of a nuclear bomb on Gaza," the "option" noted by Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Eliyahu during the war.
"The Israeli government has joined up with the most extreme elements," Aharish said. "This doesn't serve Israel, the Jews in Israel or the Jews in the Diaspora."
Danon called her words a provocation. Aharish responded: "It's not a provocation, and what the world sees is beating on Arabs because they're Arabs; then [the assailants] aren't brought to justice. That's what the world sees under the regime of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich" – far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Instead of all the anchors and commentators shattering Netanyahu's ridiculous claims about Albanese and his government, most echoed his messages as if they had been briefed at the Prime Minister's Office. True, some, like Moriah Asraf of Channel 13 and Yair Cherki of Channel 12 noted the absurdity of Netanyahu – who is fleeing responsibility – trying to educate the Australian prime minister.
But many of the pundits weighing in on TV, especially Channel 12, made sure to push a certain mantra as if they had been ordered: The terrorist attack is the direct result of antisemitism, and Albanese is an antisemite.
Very soon Israel will be flooded with Jews from all over the world. They'll return to the Holy Land with their tails between their legs because no place is safer for Jews than Israel – yes, the country that's plagued by terrorist attacks, disasters and wars, which bans pro-democracy soccer fans because of a slogan on their shirts, and whose people are left to die in captivity.
Then there's Ofer Hadad and Amalya Duek of Channel 12, the nationalist duo who since October 7 have made a hobby of moaning about antisemitism. Last week the tragic incident fell into their laps. This time their show was even more parochial than usual, summing up the low point that Israeli journalism has fallen to.
"Too little, too late," Duek reprimanded Albanese, whose picture was shown in the background with a lit candle and the message: "We are not afraid – we will tackle the darkness with the help of light."
The TV commentators and producers weren't impressed by the pain, fear and mourning that the Australian prime minister expressed. "We would have been impressed by this gesture if it had been preceded by actions," Hadad said. "For example, if we had seen him taking a firm stance against those who called for Jews to be sent to the gas chambers on October 8, when the smoke rose high over the houses" – the houses of Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
Hadad talked about "two years in which every antisemite, every Israel hater felt they were allowed to say anything. Now come the actions. With all due respect to his gesture, we'll thank him and decline."
Who will remind Hadad about what Netanyahu was busy with on October 8 when that smoke was rising – a meeting with political adviser Yonatan Urich and spokesman Ofer Golan to set the narrative that would save him from the inferno. I don't remember any suffering expressed by the person responsible for the deaths of 1,200 people in one day, the person who funded Hamas with eyes wide open.
The TV channels covered the massacre in Sydney as if it were the October 7 massacre, without any criticism of our government. The military correspondents, who were partners to the "antisemitism" preconception that seeped into everything, reported how the Australian government received warnings and took no action.
Unlike Netanyahu, Albanese may not have whined that he wasn't woken up in time, but "Australia's Shin Bet failed," Or Heller said on Channel 13 News, using the term for Israel's domestic security service. Wait a bit longer and Netanyahu's poison machine will blame former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar for the Sydney incident and maybe demand the establishment of a commission of inquiry.
Channel 12 News covered the attack as if the policies of Israel's extremist government didn't represent a clear and present danger to all Jews around the world. True, antisemitism has increased, but is that the fault of Australia's government or blowback from the policies of the Netanyahu regime? The investigation into the terror attack hasn't yet been completed, but one thing is certain: Before the war, Jews didn't feel threatened and hated like now.
Even Adi Zarifi of Channel 12 News, who has shown backbone and independent thinking, joined the Pavlovian folly. She and Tamir Steinman interviewed Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, who attacked Albanese because he "didn't listen to the warnings." Zarifi responded: "You're right and we heard what he said and understand his political background and his right to be anti-Israeli."
This nonsense – anti-Netanyahu doesn't necessarily mean anti-Israel – was voiced by Zarifi before she wondered in an apologetic tone whether the Foreign Ministry could have done more.
The Foreign Ministry under the impassioned Gideon Sa'ar is the failure, not the solution, but this won't ever be said in a TV studio. Sa'ar's contribution, by the way, was: "The Australian government, which had received endless signs, must get its act together."
Zarifi is usually good at picking apart foolishness; educated journalists like Channel 13's Raviv Drucker and Gil Tamari know that world leaders are capable of being against Netanyahu and for Israel. They can be both for Israel and a Palestinian state.
But too many years under a megalomaniac ruler have led to the PR attack in which Netanyahu is the state and it's impossible to oppose him or criticize his actions without earning the sobriquet "antisemite."
Haaretz
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