Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called Larissa Waters' interview comments on a Manchester synagogue attack "undignified" and "not worthy of a senator", a description the Greens leader has rejected.
Waters was asked on the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday about last week's Manchester attack on a synagogue during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, in which two worshippers were killed.
Jewish organisations in the UK, like Australia, other European countries and the United States, have recorded a rise in antisemitic incidents in the nearly two years since the escalation of the Hamas-Israel war.
Waters said her heart "goes out to the families" of the victims, before arguing Australia needed to impose sanctions on the Israeli government.
"No violence anywhere is acceptable and this is exactly why we need a resolution that is based on self-determination and why Australia should have, two years ago, imposed serious sanctions on the Israeli government, would have been conducting a genocide and starving people, children. It is utterly appalling and yet we have been selling weapons to that conflict," she said.
When pressed about the threat of antisemitism, Waters said her party had condemned the attack.
"Of course, we have condemned that and, as I said, our hearts go out to those families," she said.
"Violence on any basis is not acceptable and we need to have social cohesion and part of that is Australia doing what's necessary to stand up for humanitarian justice and that's why we need those sanctions and that's why we've got to stop selling weapons components that are dropping bombs on 12-year-olds."
When questioned another time on antisemitism, and whether she supported the recommendations of the government's antisemitism envoy, Waters said: "We oppose antisemitism. Just as we oppose violence on any basis."
"Now, the envoy's report had a series of recommendations, many of which were quite bizarre," Waters said.
"What we need to see is an anti-racist approach to antisemitism, to Islamophobia, to all of it. None of it is acceptable.
"But I think the reason why tensions are so inflamed is that we've seen a genocide for two years that thank our government has refused to condemn and, in fact, has been fuelling by sending those weapons — yes, I do keep mentioning them because Australians are horrified that our government is entering fresh contracts over the last two years, to both sell weapons and buy weapons from that regime."
The Israeli government has strongly rejected claims it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza — a conclusion which has been reached by a United Nations Commission of Inquiry, and separately, by the world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars.
Jewish community leaders have condemned Waters' comments.
Peter Wertheim, a co-CEO at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said it was a "classic diversion" from the Greens leader.
"Like the Wizard of Oz, she desperately sought to direct the attention of the audience away from a truth that exposed her entire narrative as a fraud," he said.
"After a perfunctory expression of sympathy for the victims, she quickly changed the subject to condemning Israel."
Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, has criticised Greens leader Larissa Waters' comments on the Manchester synagogue attack. Source: AAP / .
"Waters unwittingly revealed the fundamental flaw in the Greens' entire worldview, especially when it comes to Israel: any inconvenient facts that do not 'fit' their narrative must be ruthlessly suppressed, denied or downplayed."
Albanese said he watched the interview on replay and was "stunned".
"I thought that Senator Waters' comments were undignified, were not worthy of a senator," he told reporters on Monday.
In a statement to SBS News, Waters rejected the "mischaracterisation" of her comments.
"ASIO has made it clear that the genocide in Gaza has caused a rise in both antisemitism and Islamophobia. Australia should have a fully-funded anti-racism strategy which combats antisemitism and Islamophobia, and Australia should also stop contributing to the genocide," she said in her statement.
"Jewish people deserve to be safe from violence here and abroad, and Palestinians should not be slaughtered in their tens of thousands using weapons that Australia manufactured and sold to Israel."
Albanese said he would be marking the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks with a statement during Question Time in parliament on Tuesday.
"It will be a sombre day for Jewish Australians, but for Jewish people everywhere ... for people as well who just regard human rights and decent human behaviour," he said.
He also urged people not to demonstrate against the war in Gaza on the day.
"Tomorrow is not a day for demonstrations. For people who engage and want to support — say they are supporting the Palestinian cause — it will not advance it. It will set it back in terms of support here in Australia."
SBS News is not aware of any planned pro-Palestinian protests for Tuesday.
A vigil planned by the Palestine Action Group Sydney, one of the main protest organisations in Australia, is expected to take place on Monday evening, on the eve of the anniversary. The organisers say it will be a chance for people "to mourn the horrific loss of Palestinian life".
