Netanyahu says Australian PM ‘did nothing’ to protect local Jews

Speaking at a Hanukkah candle lighting with the family of the Ran Gvili, the last slain hostage in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges that “we will bring Rani back, just as we brought back 254 out of our 255 hostages.”

“There were those who did not believe,” he continued, speaking to police officers at the National Police College. “I believe. My colleagues in the government believed. They said, ‘It will be a miracle.’ I said, ‘This people creates miracles.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, helps a people who help themselves.”

Turning to the deadly shooting in Sydney, Netanyahu says that he told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that his government’s policy “encourages terror.”

“It encourages antisemitism,” Netanyahu continued. “You are calling for a Palestinian state, and in effect you are rewarding Hamas for the horrific massacre they carried out on October 7. You are granting legitimacy to all these rioters, and you are not lifting a finger to eliminate these centers of terror. This will lead to more murders.”

Albanese “did nothing,” says Netanyahu. There will be more such attacks, he predicts.

“The safe place for Jews around the world is where the government, the army, and the security forces protect them — first and foremost in Israel, because we defend ourselves.”

Also speaking at the ceremony, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stresses that Israel is moving forward with a bill that would mandate the death penalty for terrorists: “A state that respects life must say to those who harm its citizens — their blood is on their own heads.”