Netanyahu faces backlash after blaming Bondi attack on Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood

Social media erupted after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood for the deadly attack in Sydney - a claim that many online called illogical and a politicisation of tragedy. 

At least 15 people were killed after two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday, while multiple others were wounded.

Netanyahu said he had previously warned Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before Australia recognised Palestine that his government's policy "was promoting and encouraging antisemitism".

“I wrote: Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire,” he continued. “It rewards Hamas terrorism. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews, and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets.”

Asked whether he perceived a link between the recognition of Palestinian statehood and the massacre, Albanese said in an interview with ABC: “No, I don’t, and overwhelmingly, most of the world recognises a two-state solution as being the way forward in the Middle East.”

Online, many people agreed.

Several social media users zeroed in on Netanyahu’s attempt to link recognition of Palestinian statehood to the attack, calling the argument illogical.

“This is absurd,” a social media user posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Calling to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with peace, security, and self-determination for all, recognizing Israel and Palestine both, is a call to reduce the flames and put everyone on a path toward a better future.”

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and counter terrorism, Ben Saul, also publicly condemned Netanyahu’s accusation, saying he was “disgusted”. 

“I am disgusted that the Israeli PM links Australia’s principled support for a Palestinian State with yesterday’s terrorist attack in Bondi,” he wrote in an X post. “Australia has taken extensive measures to prevent anti-semitism.” 

Several users accused the premier of exploiting the tragedy to undermine Palestinian self-determination and continue to justify Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. 

“Using the antisemitic slaughter of innocents to double down on the occupation and apartheid is inexcusable,” Israeli-American academic Shaiel Ben-Ephraim posted on X.

Journalist Barry Malone argued that Netanyahu’s "consistent weaponisation” of antisemitic attacks “does nothing but reduce the victims to political pawns”. 

One social media user said that Netanyahu’s response to the attack was “predictable”. 

“It is wholly predictable and morally obscene that Israel would exploit a barbaric, antisemitic terrorist atrocity to legitimize genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, while cynically conflating Palestinian statehood with antisemitic violence,” he wrote on X.