Former Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Wednesday said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has “personal responsibility” for Sunday’s terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, blasting the premier’s lack of accountability for rising antisemitism and accusing him of “abandoning” the Jewish community.

In a speech at the site of the attack, Frydenberg, who is Jewish and served in the Liberal-led government as treasurer and deputy leader from 2018 to 2022, blamed Albanese for the “all too predictable” massacre of Australia’s Jewish community. The attack left at least 15 dead and dozens wounded after two gunmen opened fire at a Chabad-hosted Hanukkah event at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach.

“I’m here to mourn, but I am also here to warn,” he told the crowd of several hundred who gathered at the Bondi Pavilion to pay their respects to the victims of Sunday’s attack. As the first funerals for the victims were held on Wednesday, local media reported that one patient wounded in the attack remained in critical condition, while two others were in a “critical but stable” condition, with 17 total still hospitalized.

“Unless our governments, federal and state, take urgent, unprecedented and strong action, as night follows day we will be back grieving the loss of innocent life in another terrorist attack in our country,” he said.

“This was all too predictable,” he continued, drawing attention to the scenes of celebration at the Sydney Opera House just hours after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

“And since that day,” Frydenberg said, Australian Jews have seen boycotts, doxing, harassment, intimidation, firebombing, and “daily protests of hate.”

Josh........

© The Times of Israel