By Renju Jose
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia on Wednesday dismissed suggestions by Israel that its interventions prompted Canberra to expel Iran’s ambassador as it blamed Tehran for directing at least two antisemitic arson attacks in the country’s biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.
“Complete nonsense,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC Radio, when asked about Israel claiming credit for Australia’s decision to order Tehran’s ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi to leave the country.
“There was not a minute between us receiving this assessment and us starting to work through what we would do as a response.”
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said on Tuesday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “forthright intervention” and his criticisms against Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state may have triggered Australia’s response.
“The relationship between this country and Australia was damaged, and so it’s welcome that after Prime Minister Netanyahu’s timely intervention that these actions have been taken by Australia’s government,” Mencer told reporters.
Netanyahu has personally attacked his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, describing him as “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews” over his decision to recognise a Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, Australian homes, schools, synagogues, and vehicles have been targeted in antisemitic vandalism and arson, while Islamophobic incidents have also surged.
Australia on Tuesday said Iran sought to “disguise its involvement” in last year’s attacks on a kosher restaurant in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne. Canberra’s order for the Iranian ambassador to leave within seven days was its first such expulsion since World War Two.
Burke said there was no reason to believe the people behind the two antisemitic attacks were aware Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was directing them.
“But that doesn’t change the seriousness from the Australian government’s point of view that Iran was still involved in directing attacks on Australian soil,” Burke said.
Iran has repeatedly denied such allegations, which it says are part of a campaign against it by hostile Western powers.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned Australians to avoid travelling to Iran after the government decided to close its embassy in the country, where she estimates up to 4,000 Australian citizens are currently living.
“If you are in Iran, you should come home,” Wong told Nine News.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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