Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says there has been a "failure of leadership" in Australia on antisemitism, calling for "very clear red lines" to stop the spread of hate as he promotes his new documentary.
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Mr Frydenberg told Sky News host Sharri Markson in an interview on Monday night that political leaders must take "urgent action" to address the problem, even though this "may be unpopular in some quarters".
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who on Tuesday said that his government does not support Israel's ground offensive into Rafah, appears in a teaser for Mr Frydenberg's upcoming film Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism.
Mr Frydenberg has interviewed Holocaust survivors, who appeal to the Prime Minister to "be aware of what's going on around you."
"Speak out, on the right side of history," one elderly Holocaust survivor said when asked by Mr Frydenberg to address a message directly to Mr Albanese.
The Albanese government is under pressure to reassure the Jewish community of its commitment to Jewish Australians as it grapples with the Israel-Hamas conflict on the international stage and domestically.
In a clip from the Prime Minister's interview in the documentary, Mr Albanese says in the teaser: "People will have different views about Israel, about Palestine."
Asked what his message to the nation's Holocaust survivors is, he states: "That Australians stand with you. That we're honoured to have you as part of the Australian community."
The teaser airs a clip of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton saying: "'Just a little bit of antisemitism is okay' - that thought has crept into the national psyche or into the psyche of some of our leaders."
Mr Frydenberg praised former prime ministers John Howard and Julia Gillard for supporting Israel both during and after their political terms.
Mr Howard warns in the teaser that "one thing we must unite on is to completely repudiate any return of antisemitism", while Ms Gillard says: "Surely, in modern Australia, we're better than that."
Political headache over Israel-Palestine views
Mr Albanese is grappling with differing views on the Israel-Hamas conflict ahead of the next federal election with Jewish voters influential in a number of seats - including Macnamara, which is close to Mr Frydenberg's former seat of Kooyong in Melbourne's south-east.
Labor MP for Macnamara Josh Burns has this week faced questions over his association with Victorian state MP Georgie Purcell. The Animal Justice Party MP is a vocal supporter of Palestine.
Mr Burns, who is Jewish and whose grandfather lived on a Kibbutz in southern Israel, has called out antisemitism in Victoria and made clear that he supports a two-state solution in the Middle East.
Mr Frydenberg took aim at Education Minister Jason Clare, who said on Sunday that slogans being used by pro-Palestine students protesting on university campuses could mean different things to different groups.
"I think the education minister should get an education," the former treasurer told Ms Markson.
"He should go down to the Sydney Jewish Museum and sit down with Holocaust survivors and hear firsthand for himself about where antisemitism leads."
At issue is Mr Clare's response to the protest slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the The Anti-Defamation League in the United States define this slogan as antisemitic, because it implies that the state of Israel will no longer exist. This interpretation is disputed by some academics.
Mr Albanese, when asked about the slogan at a press conference on Monday, said the chant conflicted with the Australian government's position that a two-state solution is needed for peace between Israel and Palestine.
"It is a slogan that calls for opposition to a two-state solution," the Prime Minister told reporters.
"My position is very clear and the government's position is clear and it has been a bipartisan position for a long period of time."
Mr Frydenberg said the education minister's comments had been "tone deaf" and ignorant.
"These are slogans calling for the genocide of the Jewish people," he said.
Mr Frydenberg, who served as Australia's first Jewish Treasurer and whose great-grandfather and great-grandmother were murdered along with three of their daughters at Auschwitz, has spent years raising the alarm about rising antisemitism.
In Monday night's Sky interview, he accused university leaders of a "dereliction of duty" and said political leaders "need to understand the depth of the problem and recognize that we are in a crisis".
Jewish Australians targeted with hate
Since the October 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists on Jewish civilians in southern Israel, Mr Frydenberg said, the level of hatred being experienced by community members in Australia had escalated.
His documentary includes interviews with "Australians who have been directly impacted by antisemitism, people who've had their lives threatened, people who have lost their jobs," Mr Frydenberg said.
"These people have seen their businesses closed as a result of the intimidation, the hate and the violence directed towards them - simply because they're Jewish."
"I think many Australians don't know how bad and how dangerous the situation is today, so I wanted to use my voice to ring the alarm bell," he said.
"I wanted Australians to see and hear for themselves, what is happening in their own country ... This is not just the Jewish community's fight; this is Australia's fight."