Deputy FM to Australia: ‘How many times did we warn you’ an antisemitic attack was likely?

By Sam Sokol 14 December 2025, 4:28 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Deputy Foreign Minister MK Sharren Haskel attends a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 2, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel responds harshly to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s condemnation of today’s deadly attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, calling his statement a “disgrace” and arguing that Israel had repeatedly warned that unless more was done against antisemitism, such an incident was bound to occur.

In a written statement posted to X, Albanese said that “the scenes in Bondi are shocking and distressing” and that his thoughts were “with every person affected.”

“Prime minister, this was a deadly terror attack on the Australian Jewish community. Just say it. Your statement is a disgrace,” responds Haskel. “How many times did we warn you an attack like this by Islamists was inevitable unless your government did more to eradicate anti-Jew hate?”

In a televised address, Albanese later condemned the shooting as “a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah.”