Albanese ‘abandoned’ Australia’s Jews, ignored ‘alarm bells,’ charges ex-treasurer

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 Frydenberg unloads on the PM

“And, Prime Minister, I heard you say yesterday that you are ready for the fight on guns.

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Well, let me tell you, guns may have stolen the lives of 15 innocent civilians, but it was radical Islamist ideology that pulled the trigger.

And if… pic.twitter.com/PDKxhwlABN

— “Mate” (@tigertuffmark) December 17, 2025

“And for 2.5 years, as the Australian Jewish community and others have raised the alarm bells, they were told by people who should know better that this was not as significant as they had said,” he continued.

“We, as a Jewish community, have been abandoned and left alone by our government,” he said, turning his sights to Albanese, who has “allowed Australia to be radicalized on his watch.”

“It is time for him to accept personal responsibility for the death of 15 innocent people, including a 10-year-old child,” Frydenberg declared.

“This is a time for accountability and action,” he said, offering a number of steps that Albanese needs to take to reverse the issue, such as banning “hate preachers” and extremist organizations, prosecuting “those who incite violence and hate,” and taking action to “stop the protests,” which he said “have become incubators of hate.”

Frydenberg also called on Albanese to invest in education, especially against antisemitism, which should teach “values of tolerance, respect,” as well as to enact an “effective and rigorous” immigration system, which would not allow entry to people who “don’t accept… our democratic ideals, our values of tolerance.”

Finally, the former official said that the Australian premier “must call a royal commission into what has happened here and into the rise of antisemitism in our country.”

“We need answers, we need solutions, we need action,” he asserted, taking issue with Albanese’s vow to enact stricter gun control laws in the wake of the shooting, saying that “guns may have stolen the life of 15 innocent civilians, but it was radical Islamist ideology that pulled the trigger.”

“Prime minister, you have failed us. Your government has failed us,” he concluded. “If you don’t want to do the job, give it to somebody who will.”

Sydney rabbi says attack ‘can’t be blamed on lax gun control’

Also taking issue with Albanese’s immediate focus on gun control instead of antisemitism as the most pressing problem to solve in the wake of the Bondi attack, Rabbi Benjamin Elton of Sydney’s Great Synagogue said Wednesday that the massacre “can’t be blamed on lax gun control.”

Speaking outside St Mary’s Cathedral at an interfaith vigil, which was attended by Albanese, Elton blamed the government for “pandering to movements that want to kill every Jew everywhere.”

Tonight, leaders from across faiths are mourning Jewish Australians killed affirming their faith.

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Everyone deserves to feel safe in Australia, no matter who they worship.

We will not be divided.

We will come through this together. pic.twitter.com/MkjFig1bIh

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) December 17, 2025

The rising antisemitism in Australia will “not be stopped by putting the Jewish community behind higher walls or increasing security at events,” he said. “The answer cannot be ghettos for our own protection.”

“The most difficult issue, and deepest root cause, is the hateful and murderous attitude toward Jews, that have in recent times come to infest our society,” he said. “Tackling that is a long-term problem, but the work must begin now.”

“Now is the time for a national soul-searching,” the rabbi said.

“The first duty of a state is to defend its citizens, all its citizens, including its Jewish citizens,” Elton concluded. “I have no doubt that our political leaders believe that as much as I do, but now we must see concrete actions being taken.”

The comments from Frydenberg and Elton echoed much of the criticism that has come from Israeli leaders in recent days. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his accusations against the Australian government in a call with relatives of those killed.

“These criminal acts are the result of rampant antisemitism in the face of lax policies by the country’s authorities and the Australian government, which is obligated to act immediately and use all available tools to eradicate terrorism and restore security to Jewish communities,” Netanyahu said during the conversations, according to his office.

Netanyahu spoke with Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, the father-in-law of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was among the 15 people murdered in the attack, his office said, and expressed his condolences to all the bereaved families, and wished a full recovery to the wounded.”

The prime minister also spoke with Arsen Ostrovsky, who was injured in the attack weeks after moving to Sydney to direct the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council office in the city, the PMO added.