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Sen. Lindsey Graham lambasted Australia’s prime minister in the wake of Sunday’s terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, saying the country’s leadership has become “pathetically weak” and ignored direct warnings from Israel about the dangers posed to its Jewish community.
“Western Europe and now Australia, you’re pathetically weak in the face of religious Nazis,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on “Hannity” Monday night.
The South Carolina senator’s comments followed a mass shooting on Bondi Beach at a celebration of the first night of Hanukkah that left 16 people dead, including one of the gunmen, and dozens hospitalized.
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Graham criticized Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for recognizing a Palestinian state after the Oct. 7 terror attacks, noting that Israeli leaders plainly warned him against the move.
“The prime minister of Australia was told by the Israeli prime minister, ‘If you recognize a Palestinian state, after they killed 1,200 Jews, while they’re still in charge of Gaza and the West Bank, you’re putting Jews in Australia at risk,'” Graham said, arguing that “political decisions” lead to the deaths of innocent Jews in Australia.
He added that other governments recognizing a Palestinian state after Hamas’ deadly incursion into Israel have similarly “enticed more terrorism.”
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The senator didn’t leave American foreign policy out of the discussion.
He asserted that the Obama administration’s withdrawal from Iraq “allowed ISIS to come about” and also criticized former President Joe Biden for the botched Afghanistan withdrawal and for reentering the Iran nuclear agreement, which he claimed left the regime “flush with cash.”
Graham praised Trump for taking a different approach.
“What Trump has done is the right way. You kill these guys over there so they don’t come here. You go after their leaders. They can’t have a minute’s peace,” Graham said before calling for an expansion of the Abraham Accords.
“You don’t want forever wars, but I can tell you this, they’re forever going to try to kill you,” Graham said. “And the way to prevent them from getting over here is to hit them over there, to have allies and not act alone. The Australian model failed the Australian Jewish community. It failed the Australian people.“
He rejected the argument that gun restrictions play any role in preventing ISIS-inspired attacks and accused Australia’s government of failing to promise action against ISIS.
“You’ve allowed ISIS to come in your country, and never once tonight did you promise the Australian people you’re going to hunt these cells down and kill them all.”
He said extremist groups like ISIS remain committed to global violence and must be met with force, calling the conflict “a fight for civilization itself.”
“There’s one solution to this, what we did to the Germans and the Japanese: destroy them and, out of their ashes, build peace.”
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