Feeding the Crocodile: Netanyahu Warns Australia Against Appeasing Terrorism

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken on Australian television following a decision by the Labor government to cancel the visa of a visiting Israeli MP.

Since then, Israeli officials have not held back in their response, cancelling visas for Australian diplomats, and the Israeli leader himself calling Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “weak” on X.

On Aug. 21, Netanyahu explained why he made the remarks about Albanese.

“I’m sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished in the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,” Netanyahu told Sky News Australia.

“Knowing the worst terrorist organisation on earth, these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burnt babies alive in front of their parents and took hundreds of hostages.

“When these people congratulate the Prime Minister of Australia, you know something is wrong. In fact, it is wrong, because to offer them a state when they had a state—a de facto state in Gaza—and they use it for murder, pillage and monstrous crimes, is to reward terrorism.”

Netanyahu said Albanese’s actions were a “sign of weakness” amid a “tsunami” of anti-Semitism in Australia.

Australia has experienced a surge in reports of anti-Semitic incidents in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, including arson attacks and bomb threats on synagogues.

On Aug. 21, police announced they had charged a second man in relation to the firebombing that destroyed the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in Dec. 2024. At the same time, authorities have also moved to highlight the dangers of engaging in Islamophobia, with the New South Wales government pledging $1 million to try deal with that matter.

Netanyahu pushed his case for why authorities need to keep cracking down on anti-Semitic behaviour.

“These are things that if you don’t stop them when they’re small, they get bigger and bigger and bigger and ultimately they consume your society,” Netanyahu said.

“I think a lot of Western leaders are showing this weakness, or what Churchill called the ‘slumber of democracy.'”

He said democracies sleep and they only wake up when they hear the jarring “gong of danger.”

The Israeli leader noted the issue was not as prevalent in the United States due to stance taken by President Donald Trump, but said in other democracies—like those in Europe—countries were falling into the trap of supporting terrorism.

Netanyahu referred to other comments made by Churchill, including the example of “feeding the crocodile” in an attempt to appease it and not be eaten.

“That’s what the Western leaders, including unfortunately in Australia, are doing, they’re trying to feed the crocodile of militant Islam that has claimed the lives not only of Jews, but Christians, but Arabs, many Muslims and so on,” he said.

“They think it’ll pacify it, it’ll appease the crocodile. No it won’t.”

The Israeli leader said if leaders like Albanese didn’t take a stand against radicalism, it would escalate.

“You will see this violence and this radicalism in your cities,” he warned.

On Aug. 18, the Australian Jewish Association revealed the visa for Simcha Rothman, chair of the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset’s) Constitution, Law and Justice Committee had been revoked by the Home Affairs Department.

In response, the Israeli government revoked the visas of Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority.