How appeasement shaped Albanese’s response to antisemitism

Paul Begley writes that a model of appeasement, not moral clarity, has shaped the Albanian government’s response to Gaza, Israel, and policies of antisemitism at home.

A LEADER elected to the highest office, when he acts with the belief that pleasing his enemies is a sure way to preserve his political capital, gets what he deserves when his enemies turn on him because he does what they want.

Winston Churchill warned against this approach by characterizing Soothing, like someone feeding a crocodile in the hope that it will eat him last, forgetting that his appetite is insatiable.

As the nation watched Murdoch’s News Corp lead a legacy media blitz demanding a royal commission into antisemitism following last month’s Bondi shooting, it became increasingly clear that the sole aim of the campaign was to injure Jews. Albanian State. In fact, it looked increasingly likely that Albanese would concede to their demands and, in doing so, confirm their exaggerations and reveal once again his characteristic lack of backbone.

Since October 7, 2023, Prime Minister Albanese has backed down to avoid stating the obvious because his powerful enemies in Australia, America and Israel did not in any way want the Australian Government to officially acknowledge the emergence of a horrific reality that is clearly visible in Gaza.

Four things followed the events of October 2023.

The first of these was the Prime Minister of Israel. Netanyahu Following intelligence warnings from Egypt and Israel’s state-of-the-art intelligence forces, he could not explain how. Hamas’s October 7 persecution They were able to perform under his supervision at the Supernova music festival. Members of the Israeli army who were on duty on October 6 and 7, reported high level of unpreparedness and this ‘Many Israeli soldiers there were unarmed and official protocols were for soldiers to stand back rather than advance under attack.’.

It is not surprising that Netanyahu acted with determination. refused to investigate Despite the October 7 cruelty common demands He does this in Israel.

The second concerns well-verified information from an Israeli news source. Haaretz and other sources say that the response to the Hamas attack involved the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killing Israeli citizens caught in the Supernova event via the Hannibal Directive to prevent Hamas from taking Israeli soldiers captive.

The third involves Netanyahu’s response to the October 7 atrocity, which involved the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians using the principle of collective punishment over more than two years. The answer resulted in the International Criminal Court I declare Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders were war criminals and called for their arrest.

The fourth involves Israeli supporters using their international influence to pressure governments and major cultural institutions to characterize any criticism of Israel’s political state as criticism of the Jewish religion. This characterization was and is made under the general rubric of “antisemitism,” with the intention of creating confusion among the general population and anxiety among Jewish citizens who are consistently said to be distrustful.

In Australia, our educational and cultural centers are under pressure to punish any writer, academic, artist or public commentator who says anything that could be interpreted as criticism of Israel:

Antoinette Lattouf He was fired by ABC Australia for privately repeating the verifiable fact that Israel uses starvation as a weapon of war;
classical pianist Jason Gillham He was dropped by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for observing the fact that Israel was killing Palestinian journalists;
Many writers withdrew from the series 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival when sponsor La Trobe University required participants to sign a code of conduct preventing them from mentioning Israel or Palestine; And
Professor, an eminent cardiologist Peter MacDonaldHe was rejected by St Vincent’s Hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Center for asking a question in his private capacity expressing suspicion that Iran, rather than the Mossad, was the perpetrator of two “anti-Semitic” arson attacks in Australia.

These are some of the many attempts to silence speech in Australia over the past two years if the state of Israel risks criticism.

And now, in real time, more than 50 writers scheduled to appear at the 2026 Adelaide Writers Festival in March, including Australian-Palestinian author Dr. He withdrew after Randa Abdel-Fattah’s speaking invitation was cancelled.

Since Netanyahu announced his intention to impose collective punishment on Gaza citizens, the Albanian Government has been desperate to avoid open criticism of Israel. Instead of questioning Israel’s response on the grounds of unlawfulness and disproportionality, the Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Albanians timidly reiterated Israel’s “right to self-defense,” a “right” openly denied to an occupying power.

The same Labor leaders also resorted to a series of platitudes about a “rules-based order” and impotent calls for Israel to show “restraint”. At no stage was Australia’s Ambassador to Israel called upon to give reasons why it should not be repatriated and Australia is still supplying weapons parts to Israel.

While the government continues to shy away from both sides, the L-NP Opposition and its cheerleaders in the legacy media have demanded full support for Netanyahu’s Israel on the grounds of an existential conflict between good and evil, on the grounds that God is clearly on Israel’s side and is implacably opposed to anything that smacks of Islam.

Against high-minded claims of correctness by black and white, the Albanian Government was accused of a lack of “moral clarity”, while right-wing partisans accused it personally of “being a jerk”.

In this context, Albanese definitely confirmed his assessments. The Prime Minister was overzealous in quickly characterizing suspected arson attacks and other incidents as “anti-Semitic” even though police investigations quickly revealed that these were misleading signals. This includes: Arson attack on Ripponlea synagogue In December 2024, it was revealed that it was organized by unknown principals who employed street criminals using encrypted communications to create the impression of widespread antisemitism.

The Prime Minister was hastily appointed to the post, under pressure to prove to his enemies that he took antisemitism more seriously than they claimed. Jillian Segal He was appointed as a special antisemitism envoy on 9 July 2024, with great fanfare, and was secretly appointed Aftab Malik Three months later, on September 30, as the ambassador of Islamophobia.

The necessary care was not taken in the appointment of Segal, the ambassador Linked to far-right political group Advance.

Segal delivered his report to Albanese on July 10, 2025. The report’s 13 recommendations called for comprehensive action against any Australian educational or cultural institution that allowed criticism of Israel and recommended that Segal be the sole arbiter in deciding on such possibilities and the penalties that would follow. Penalties may include mandatory termination and criminal charges against any offenders, in addition to loss of agency funding.

The envoy’s priorities on what kind of anti-Semitic behavior was exhibited during a group of openly anti-Semitic neo-Nazis in November 2025 held a public demonstration Outside the NSW Parliament. The demonstration was a blatant exercise in Jew hatred, displaying a prominent sign demanding the elimination of the Jewish lobby, but making no explicit reference to the state of Israel. Segal took no proactive steps to comment on or publicly condemn the neo-Nazi incident through a statement or press conference.

After two armed attackers open fire At the Jewish Hanukkah gathering at Bondi Beach last month that left 15 people dead, pro-Israel forces in politics and legacy media began to claim that Albanese had done nothing to prevent the Bondi shooting. Opposition Leader Susan Ley Segal demanded that his recommendations be implemented, that a series of anti-terrorism laws be passed, and that Albanians recall Parliament before Christmas to enact them.

former LNP politician Josh Frydenberg He gave an impassioned speech suggesting that the urgency of the situation had led him to consider returning to politics.

Deputy Andrew Hastie Ignoring that the dead elderly gunman had entered Australia at the time of entry, he immediately used the opportunity to call on the Albanian Government to make better decisions regarding immigration entry. Howard A gun license was issued in 2015. Abbott Years later, his son was investigated for his ISIS connections. morrison years. Australian Security Intelligence Agency (ASIO) apparently didn’t see any red flags following the gunmen’s trip to the Philippines, the training center of ISIS.

That didn’t stop Scott Morrison from writing an opinion piece on Murdoch’s article. Wall Street Magazineblames the Labor Party ‘The tolerance of Islamists and far-leftists paved the way for the massacre on Bondi Beach’. Australian newspaper and domestic Murdoch tabloids placed the blame squarely on Albanese, signaling the reporting to the wider legacy media.

When Albanese presumably capitulated to past media demands by agreeing to set up a royal commission, rather than using his power as Prime Minister by announcing a commissioner and terms of reference, he consulted his enemies on who and what they would accept as part of a decision they would always report as a humiliating backflip. Announced at the event via Letter Patent The terms of reference, which did not imply either Islamophobia or Israel, helped to pacify the Zionist lobby to some extent.

Reports from independent media sources, such as this observation from Ronni Salt, were barely heard over the noise. Shot:

‘The two gunmen, one an unemployed worker and his father, an alleged shop worker, did not march for peace, did not learn their hatred in universities, and did not create their crazy mentality in art galleries or cultural institutions in Australia. But Segal, ever the divisive, did not let these rather obvious facts deter him.’

Paul Begley worked in public relations positions for many years until recently as General Manager of Government and Media Relations at the Australian HR Institute. You can follow Paul on Twitter @yelgeb.

Support independent journalism Subscribe to IA.