Australia has forcefully rejected Israeli claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intervention influenced Canberra’s decision to expel Iran’s ambassador, calling the suggestion “complete nonsense.”
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC Radio that the move was based solely on Australian intelligence findings that Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed at least two antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne last year.
“There wasn’t a minute between receiving the assessment and beginning work on a response,” Burke said.
Israel Takes Credit, but Canberra Pushes Back
Earlier this week, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer suggested Netanyahu’s “forthright intervention” may have prompted the decision, after months of strained ties with Australia over its recognition of Palestinian statehood at the UN. Netanyahu has accused Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of “betraying Israel and abandoning Australia’s Jews.”
Canberra flatly denies any link. Officials insist the expulsion of Ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi, the first such measure since World War II, was a direct response to Iranian involvement in local attacks, including an arson incident at a kosher restaurant in Sydney and another at Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue.
