Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that his government’s recognition of Palestinian statehood earlier this year “pours fuel” on an “antisemitic fire.”

Asked during an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation if he sees a link between that action and the deadly Bondi Beach Hanukkah terror attack, in which at least 15 people were killed when a father and son opened fire on a Hanukkah event, Albanese responded: “No, I don’t.”

“And overwhelmingly, most of the world recognizes a two-state solution as being the way forward in the Middle East,” he added.

Albanese was also asked about comments Netanyahu made Sunday in which he referenced a letter he wrote to the Australian prime minister in August urging him to “replace weakness with action, appeasement with resolve.” Instead, Netanyahu said following the terror attack, “You replaced weakness with weakness and appeasement with more appeasement.”

Asked to respond, Albanese said only that his role “at this time is to bring the nation together, is to promote unity” and that the terrorists seek “to divide us as a nation, to pitch Australian against Australian.”

“We need to wrap our arms around members of the Jewish community who are going through an extraordinarily difficult period, not just those who are grieving loved ones and friends, but every member of the Jewish community in Australia,” he continued. “This has been an extraordinarily traumatic........

© The Times of Israel