Israel has taken credit for the Australian government decision to expel the Iranian ambassador.

The ABC reports Israel’s government spokesperson David Mencer said Australia had been shamed into taking action by Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of Anthony Albanese. From the report:

Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu has made a very forthright intervention when it comes to Australia, a country in which we have a long history of friendly relations,” Mr Mencer said in response to a question from the ABC.

“He made those comments because he did not believe that the actions of the Australian government had gone anywhere near far enough to address the issues of antisemitism. He made very forthright comments about the prime minister himself.

“We certainly see it from Israel that Australia taking the threats against Israel and the Jewish people, Jewish Australians living in Australia — for the Australian government to take those threats seriously is a positive outcome.”

Tony Burke was asked to respond to that this morning by ABC radio’s Sabra Lane and said:

Complete nonsense and, you know, whatever is said by anyone else doesn’t change the obligation of Anthony Albanese as Australian Prime Minister to defend and protect Australians.
There was not a minute between us receiving this assessment and us starting to work through what we do as a response. And as I say, in terms of the response, this is the first time post-war that – in the post-war era that we’ve expelled an Ambassador. You don’t do it lightly. It’s not something without cost to Australia as well. You try to keep embassies open as long as you can.
But the reality, the reality is we as a government had to draw a line when Australians have been attacked in this way.