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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he remains concerned about the thousands of Australians currently living in or visiting Israel.
Asked on Sky News this afternoon whether there were any Australians who remained unaccounted for as a result of the conflict, Albanese said the government was working with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade “consistently”.
“There’s nothing I can add publicly at this time, but we’re working with families, people who have relatives and others in the region,” Albanese said during the television appearance from Uluru.
“We’re working through those issues. We remain concerned because there are so many Australians who are visiting the region or who are living in the region.”
Earlier today, Defence Minister Richard Marles said about 10,000 Australians were living in Israel.
Albanese also called for calm in response to the actions of protesters who chanted anti-Semitic slogans at a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney last night.
I’ve spoken to people who have friends and family there over the last few days – my heart goes out to them.
Nothing justified what we saw on the weekend – the slaughter of innocent civilians trying to enjoy a music festival.
We need to lower the temperature. I don’t want to see conflict here in Australia and see the scenes I saw last night.
They certainly don’t have a place.
He took a swipe at Opposition Leader Peter Dutton after the Coalition leader questioned why Albanese had not convened a meeting of the national security committee of cabinet.
“There is no issue too big for Peter Dutton to not show once again how small his view is. His attempt to politicise every issue,” Albanese said, also criticising the Greens party for “politicising” the matter.
“It’s very disappointing we have an issue like this and Peter Dutton is looking for a political angle.”
Here’s what Dutton had to say earlier today:
Having sat on the national security committee under different prime ministers over a long period of time, I find it quite astounding and probably without precedent that after an incident like this [it] would not have met.
There are stories coming out of Jewish communities where they’re telling kids not to wear school uniforms in public. Imagine if we had to go home and tell our kids that – that because you could be associated with the local Catholic church or school, or because you’ve got a Lutheran school uniform on or because you’ve got a state school uniform on, whatever it might be.
That’s the environment in which our Jewish community is living in our country at the moment.
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