Author and activist Clementine Ford has launched a scathing critique of the Albanese government following the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador to Australia.
The decision followed the news ASIO intelligence had linked the Iranian government to two anti-Semitic arson attacks on Australian soil.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday that Iran was behind the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 6 and the arson attack on Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Bondi Beach on October 20.
‘These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,’ Albanese said.
‘They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community. It is totally unacceptable.’
Clementine Ford, a vocal supporter of Palestine, questioned the timing of the announcement, noting it came just two days after nationwide pro-Palestine protests.
‘Two days after the biggest national protests we’ve seen in years for any issue, certainly the biggest we’ve seen for Palestine, we’re suddenly told Iran is behind anti-Semitic terrorism in Australia?’ Ford said in a video shared to her social media.
‘It’s f***ng nonsense.’
Clementine Ford (pictured) has accused the Government of lying about anti-semetic attacks
She expressed disbelief at the government, calling the situation ‘insane’ and ‘pantomime.’
‘I simply do not believe that the same nation we’re told is a nuclear threat would orchestrate a firebombing of a synagogue in the dead of night, allegedly by a homeless refugee. That is insane.’
Ford also criticised the government’s reliance on intelligence reports she described as ‘trumped up’ and ‘bogus.’
‘All it took for Anthony Albanese, or as my son calls him, Anthony Albo-no-no, to expel an ambassador was some fucking trumped-up AFP report that literally makes no logical sense.’
She contrasted the swift action against Iran with the government’s stance on Israel.
‘We can expel the Iranian ambassador for some nonsensical terror propaganda that is barely believable, even in the most melodramatic of circumstances,’ Ford said.
‘But we couldn’t possibly expel the Israeli ambassador for representing a country that is perpetrating genocide. Couldn’t possibly sanction Israel.’
Ford denounced the attack on the synagogue, noting that she ‘did not think any synagogues should be firebombed’.
ASIO says that the Iran was behind the attack on the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne (pictured) and Lewis Continental Kitchen in Bondi Beach
In a statement to Daily Mail, Ford said that she did ‘not know who was responsible for the attacks.
‘I am very obviously not in a position to be able to make a comment on that,’ she said.
‘I find the nature of these particular allegations – and the timing of them – to be lacking in credibility to the point of farce.
‘It is simply illogical … that a prescribed terrorist organisation (as the IRGC have been correctly recognised as), would somehow be a threat to western civilisation and the reason the west must continue to unquestioningly support … Israel and its expansionist intentions across the Levant.
‘For almost two years, we have watched the live streaming of a genocide as it’s perpetrated by the US backed Israel … the deliberate infliction of famine on a nation largely made up of children … protected by the violent insistence that any opposition to this is ‘Jew hating’.
‘I might have treated ASIO’s laughable findings with disdain … [but] the world has refused at every turn to hold the terrorists at Israel’s helm accountable.’
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said investigations are continuing into other possible Iranian-linked attacks in Australia.
‘The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement. This is the kind of boundary blurring I warned about earlier this year.
The Albanese Government has since expelled the Iranian Ambassador to Australia
‘They put lives at risk, they terrified the community, and they tore at our social fabric. Iran and its proxies lit the matches and fanned the flames.
‘I want to assure all Australians that ASIO and our law enforcement partners take these matters extremely seriously.’
The incident has sparked a major debate in Parliament this week, with the Opposition criticising the Government for not acting on a report, which previous recommended listing the IRGC as a terrorist group two years ago.
The government hit back, with Prime Minister Albanese accusing the Opposition of politicising the issue.
