\n<\/p>\n
Australia has dismissed a claim that Israeli interventions prompted the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to expel Iran\u2019s ambassador to Canberra, after the premier blamed Tehran for directing anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cComplete nonsense,\u201d Australian Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke told ABC Radio on Wednesday, when asked about Israel claiming credit for Australia\u2019s decision to order Tehran\u2019s ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, to leave the country.<\/p>\n
Albanese said on Tuesday that Australia had reached<\/span> \u201cthe deeply disturbing conclusion\u201d through \u201ccredible intelligence\u201d that found Iran\u2019s government had \u201cdirected\u201d at least two attacks against Australia\u2019s Jewish community.<\/p>\n Responding to a question from the ABC about Australia\u2019s allegations against Iran, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer had commended Australia for taking \u201cthreats seriously\u201d against the Jewish community, which he said had come after a \u201cforthright intervention\u201d from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n Mencer said Netanyahu had \u201cmade very forthright comments about the [Australian] prime minister himself\u201d, which spurred Albanese to action.<\/p>\n \u201cHe made those comments because he did not believe that the actions of the Australian government had gone anywhere near far enough to address the issues of anti-Semitism,\u201d Mencer added.<\/p>\n The ABC included Mencer\u2019s comments in an article titled: \u201cIsraeli government claims credit for pushing Albanese to expel Iranian diplomats.\u201d<\/p>\n Netanyahu last week accused Albanese<\/span> of being \u201ca weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia\u2019s Jews\u201d, days after Albanese announced Australia would move to formally recognise a Palestinian state<\/span> in September.<\/p>\n Iran said it \u201cabsolutely rejected\u201d<\/span> Australia\u2019s accusations regarding the attacks and noted that the claims had come after Australia had directed \u201climited criticism\u201d at Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems that this action is taken in order to compensate for the limited criticism the Australian side has directed at the Zionist regime [Israel],\u201d Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.<\/p>\n \u201cAny inappropriate and unjustified action on a diplomatic level will have a reciprocal reaction,\u201d Baghaei said.<\/p>\n Ilana Lenk, the spokesperson and head of public diplomacy at Israel\u2019s embassy in Canberra, shared Australian newspaper front pages with headlines including, \u2018Iran attacks us\u2019 and \u2018Iran targets Bondi deli\u2019, in a post on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cWe warned Iran wouldn\u2019t stop with Israel or the Jewish people. The West is next isn\u2019t just a slogan, and today Australia sees it,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n In a statement, the Jewish Council of Australia said it was \u201cshocked to learn of the Iranian government involvement in coordinating antisemitic attacks\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that a foreign government appears to be responsible shows how irresponsible it was for the attacks to be used to demonise the Palestine solidarity protest movement ,\u201d the council said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call on politicians and the media to exercise caution and to avoid politicisation of these attacks in a way that could further harm the Jewish community,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n