Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has delivered a scathing assessment of current PM Anthony Albanese’s failure to quell rising antisemitic sentiment in the lead-up to the Bondi Beach terror attack.
Naveed Akram, 24, and his father Sajid Akram, 50, allegedly opened fire from a footbridge at the eastern Sydney beach on Sunday night, killing 15 people who were among those attending a Hanukkah celebration.
Howard said Albanese and senior ministers had failed to properly confront anti-Jewish commentary and protests that had spiked in Australia following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and that nation’s military response in Gaza.
‘If the Prime Minister, immediately after the attack, had called an all-points national press conference on the day after the attack, you wouldn’t have had that obscene demonstration at the Opera House,’ Howard told Sky News Australia, referencing the anti-Israel protest at the Sydney landmark two days after the Oct.7 attacks.
‘At the beginning, people in the Jewish community would have felt there was someone on their side. He didn’t do that, he found some words from the word salad he gave at the time.’Howard questioned Albanese’s sincerity. ‘You have to mean things.
Australians can work out a phoney, they can work out when they are being treated to weasel words.
‘I’m afraid on this issue, that’s what the Prime Minister did. He let the Jewish community down. The first responsibility of any government, and therefore the Prime Minister, is to protect Australians domestically and also protect and project our nation internationally.’
Howard also criticised the government’s foreign policy, pointing to its decision to recognise Palestine at the United Nations earlier this year.
‘The premature recognition of a Palestinian state with no clearly defined borders or internationally accepted government was needlessly provocative,’ he said.
‘In my view, it was done to placate internal domestic pressures.
‘If he had shown determination from the beginning and sounded as though he truly felt it, perhaps some of the antisemitism that has spread would not have occurred.’
He said Jewish Australians were justified in feeling abandoned.
‘It’s understandable that Jewish Australians felt let down by the government. ‘What disturbs me to no end is that senior people in this government, Home Affairs Minister Mr Burke, for example, I don’t think he said anything about the rise of antisemitism until after the last election.’
He also criticised Penny Wong’s decision not to visit areas attacked by Hamas during her trip to Israel, describing it as ‘a misplaced desire to placate the Muslim community of Australia.’
Howard dismissed the government’s proposed gun law reforms in the wake of the attack as a ‘diversion.’
‘The real issue is antisemitism, and the failure of the Federal Government, under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, to mount a determined, broad-based campaign against this evil over the past two years.’
Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard has delivered one of his most forceful public criticisms in years, launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a live national television interview over what he described as weak leadership and failures in national security.
Speaking on Sky News Australia, the veteran Liberal figure accused the Albanese government of failing to decisively confront rising antisemitism following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent conflict in Gaza.
Howard argued that the Prime Minister’s response lacked clarity, urgency and conviction, creating what he described as a dangerous leadership vacuum.
According to Howard, the government’s handling of antisemitic protests and rhetoric in Australia contributed to a climate of social instability that preceded the deadly Bondi Beach attack, in which worshippers attending a Hanukkah celebration were killed.
He maintained that an immediate and unequivocal national address from the Prime Minister in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks could have prevented subsequent demonstrations, including protests at the Sydney Opera House.
Howard accused Albanese of projecting toughness rhetorically while failing to back it up with concrete action. “Australians can tell when they are being fed empty words,” he said, questioning the Prime Minister’s sincerity and describing his leadership as performative rather than substantive.
The former Prime Minister also criticised the government’s foreign policy, particularly its decision to recognise Palestine at the United Nations, calling the move premature and politically motivated.
He argued that recognising a Palestinian state without defined borders or a stable, internationally recognised government was unnecessarily provocative and driven by domestic political pressures.
Howard further expressed concern about what he described as the government’s broader failures on immigration and internal security, suggesting that insufficient resolve and delayed responses had undermined public confidence.
He said Jewish Australians were justified in feeling abandoned by the federal government and criticised senior ministers for what he characterised as their late acknowledgment of rising antisemitism.
He also took aim at Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s decision not to visit sites attacked by Hamas during her visit to Israel, calling it a misplaced attempt to balance domestic political sensitivities.
Additionally, Howard dismissed proposed gun law reforms following the Bondi attack as a distraction from what he described as the core issue: the government’s failure to mount a sustained, nationwide campaign against antisemitism.
Political observers noted that Howard’s remarks marked one of the most direct and uncompromising public interventions by a former prime minister against a sitting leader in recent years.
What was expected to be a routine interview instead became a sharp political confrontation, intensifying pressure on the Albanese government amid growing debate over leadership, security and social cohesion in Australia.
