Netanyahu’s instability as Australia starts to act on Palestine

His reputation among European leaders is toxic and the ICC has issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes – hardly the type of international leader Albanese wants to side with.

The endless devastation and genocide in Gaza has finally started to cause unrest within Israel – sure, it’s not a popular movement yet but they’re belatedly seeing what the rest of the world has been seeing for almost two years – and the alarm bells are ringing all across the world, leaving the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu increasingly isolated.

For two years, Netanyahu has aggressively sought international support for his actions in Gaza and has fended off most criticisms, but it’s reached a point now where it’s impossible for any country to defend the actions of Israel, especially after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification was made by the United Nations that Israel is causing a famine in Gaza, “a man-made disaster” according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and “a failure of humanity itself”.

Allies who had long stood firmly behind Israel are stepping away – bar the United States and a few other compromised nations – and Australia has become one of the more visible examples of this shift. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announced that Australia will formally recognise Palestine at the UN general assembly meeting in September, and this marked a significant departure from decades of cautious diplomacy – very predictably – Netanyahu reacted with fury, lashing out at Albanese by calling him a “weak politician” who had “betrayed Israel” and abandoned Australia’s Jewish community. This outburst came after Australia also refused entry to Simcha Rothman, a member of Israel’s far right and ultranationalist political party Mafdal-Religious Zionism – surely, Australia has the right to refuse entry to unacceptable miscreants, especially if their sole purpose to create mischief and promote Netanyahu’s political agenda overseas.

For Netanyahu, his reaction wasn’t just about Australia’s decision but about domestic politics back home. Facing escalating protests, corruption charges, and an increasingly fragile grip on power, he has sought to paint Albanese as an enemy of Israel so he can rally his own supporters – as well as some Australian citizens who are eligible to vote in Israeli elections. It’s a familiar right-wing tactic: amplify external threats to shore up fragile authority at home, and while that might work in Israel, the strategy has backfired locally and encouraged even more people to support Australia’s actions.

On the weekend, an estimated 350,000 people participated in nationwide marches demanding Palestinian recognition and accountability for Israel’s actions in Gaza, one of the largest co-ordinated protests in recent Australian history, and a major shift in public sentiment that can’t be ignored by the political establishment. Certainly, Australia has been highly and mysteriously uncritical of the Israel government over the past two years, but surely that has its limits – governments that ignore these types of national actions ignore them at their own peril. And far from isolating Albanese, Netanyahu’s attacks seemed only to strengthen the resolve of the government.