Australia’s support of a two-state solution in the Middle East is better for securing Israel than the messianic desire of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s partners to annex the territories and ethnically cleanse Gaza of its inhabitants.

The atrocious terrorist attack that befell Sydney on Sunday was not a random act of violence. It targeted the peaceful Jewish community of Australia and was fuelled by hatred spread intentionally and insistently by a web of malignant anti-Jewish actors. Unfortunately, there has not always been a forceful enough reaction by senior Australian government authorities to some violent anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish events.

A lifeguard places flowers at the memorial for the mass-shooting victims at the Bondi Pavilion.Credit: Jessica Hromas

It is precisely because of the real and deadly threats faced by Jews around the globe that leaders of the Israeli and Jewish communities have a sacred obligation to address these threats with candour, intelligence and rigour. This is a test that Netanyahu failed utterly in his recent disingenuous, opportunistic broadside against the Australian government. And it is why I want to react to some of Netanyahu’s most blatant and counter-productive fallacies.

Netanyahu baselessly asserted that........

© The Sydney Morning Herald