The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader got two very different receptions at vigils marking the first anniversary of the October 7 massacre on Monday.
While Anthony Albanese was jeered by Illuminate October attendees in Melbourne, Peter Dutton was cheered by a 12,000-strong crowd at a vigil in Sydney.
As Mr Albanese walked through the crowds alongside rabbi Gabi Kaltmann, some attendees warmly greeted him while many others weren’t so pleased and shouted ‘shame’ at him, The Guardian reported.
Others made their displeasure known by holding placards that stood out in the crowd.
‘Shame on Albo,’ one read.
‘Photo opportunity only! No genuine support for Jewish community.’
Around 6,000 attendees took part in the Illuminate October event in Moorabbin in Melbourne’s south-east.
Mr Albanese didn’t speak at the event but did join attendees in a procession of hand-painted lanterns to commemorate the 1,200 people murdered by terrorists a year ago, and the 251 hostages who were taken – 97 of whom are still unaccounted for.
Meanwhile in Sydney, Mr Dutton received a roaring reception when he addressed a 12,000 crowd at a commemoration organised by the Zionist Council of NSW and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies in Sydney’s east.
Anthony Albanese (pictured centre) was jeered in Melbourne at a commemoration of the first anniversary of the October 7 massacre in Israel
Some people held signs saying ‘Shame on you Albo’ (pictured) and accusing him of not supporting Israel
The PM did receive a warm welcome from some attendees at the Melbourne vigil
He was loudly cheered as he denounced the anti-Semitism Jewish people have suffered since the ‘horrors and heartbreak’ of October 7, 2023.
‘That day of depravity, the greatest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust, awoke and exposed an anti-Semitic rot afflicting western democracies,’ he said.
Mr Dutton said the past year had been the ‘most shocking period of our country in my lifetime’.
He said there had been a ‘moral fog’ and ‘vacuum of leadership’ in Australia, and spoke about the anti-Semitic chants heard on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on October 9 last year.
‘In that vacuum, intolerable incidents have been tolerated and each intolerable incident has emboldened the next.
‘The last 12 months constitute one of the most difficult periods for Jewish Australians in our nation’s history. So in the interest of moral clarity, let me be clear, Israel has every right to defend its territory,’ Mr Dutton said.
In Melbourne, Zionism Victoria president Yossi Goldfarb was applauded and cheered when he accused the federal government of being ‘weak’ regarding the defence of Israel.
He said Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen were ‘enemies of Israel’ and a ‘pernicious threat’ that must be defeated.
Peter Dutton addressed a 12,000-strong crowd at a commemoration organised by the Zionist Council of NSW and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies
Peter Dutton was a popular keynote speakers at the Sydney vigil (pictured)
Mr Goldfarb said anti-Semitism in Australia was ‘simply out of control … a threat to everything that makes our country unique and great.
‘There is a permissiveness that has led anti-Semitism fester, a permissiveness encouraged by weak and ambiguous expositions of our foreign policy,’ he said.
‘In our community’s view, they have weakened our social cohesion, leaving us to feel the state of Israel has been abandoned as a natural ally of the Australian people.’
Other dignitaries in attendance at the Melbourne vigil included attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, Jewish MP Josh Burns, Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan and her deputy Ben Carroll,
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the deadly conflict that followed the October 7 attacks on Israel.
