Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday played down Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu’s pointed condemnation of his decision to recognize a Palestinian state, saying he treated the leaders of other countries with respect.

“I don’t take these things personally; I engage with people diplomatically. He has had similar things to say about other leaders,” Albanese said during a media briefing.

Netanyahu’s personal attack on Albanese, describing him as a “weak politician,” has further strained relations between the two countries.

Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke told national broadcaster ABC earlier on Wednesday that strength was “not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry.”

“Strength is much better measured by exactly what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done, which is when there’s a decision that we know Israel won’t like, he goes straight to Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Ties have soured since Australia decided last week to conditionally recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.

“History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews,” Netanyahu said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Albanese told reporters that he had informed Netanyahu about Australia’s decision to support a Palestinian state before his center-left government formally announced the plan.

“At that time, I gave Prime Minister Netanyahu a clear indication of my view and Australia’s view going forward but also a clear indication of the direction in which we were headed,” Albanese said.

“I gave him the opportunity to outline what political solution there was and gave him that opportunity.”

Israel this week revoked the visas of Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority after Albanese‘s Labor government canceled the visa of an Israeli lawmaker over remarks the Australian government considered controversial and inflammatory.

Israel has been facing increasing international pressure over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip due to the humanitarian situation in the enclave.

The offensive began nearly two years ago after Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

In today’s political climate, no country faces more existential scrutiny than Israel. News outlets, social media commentators, and international organizations repeatedly question its legitimacy. But here’s the paradox: No one seems to ask whether Jordan has the right to exist, even though both Israel and Jordan were born from the same colonial mandate.

So why the double standard?

The uncomfortable answer is a toxic mix of modern antisemitism, historical revisionism, and global hypocrisy.

The British Mandate for Palestine, established after World War I, covered an area that included present-day Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. The land had been part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries before the British took control.

Here’s the relevant history:

• In 1922, Britain arbitrarily cut off 78% of the Mandate to create Transjordan, today’s Jordan, installing the Hashemite monarchy.

• In 1946, Jordan gained full independence with minimal resistance or international drama.

• But when Israel declared independence in 1948, it was instantly attacked by five Arab nations and plunged into decades of conflict and global condemnation.

No one called Jordan’s birth a catastrophe. But Israel’s creation sparked endless accusations, wars, and a global campaign to undermine its legitimacy.

There are 22 Arab states, and approximately 50 Muslim-majority countries. There are countless Christian nations. No one disputes their right to exist based on religious or cultural identity.

But Israel? The only Jewish state in the world? That’s “controversial.”

The term “anti-Zionism” is often used to mask deep-rooted antisemitism. Critics say it’s not about Jews, just about Israel’s policies. Yet they don’t apply the same standard to countries with far worse records on democracy, human rights, or warfare.

• China occupies Tibet and jails Uyghur Muslims in camps. Silence.

• Turkey occupies northern Cyprus. Barely a peep.

• Pakistan was created on religious lines and has fueled decades of regional instability. No “right to exist” debate there.

Only Israel, a thriving democracy with equal rights for Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and more, is constantly forced to justify its existence.

Jordan and the Palestinians

Let’s get honest: The Palestinian narrative is heavily politicized.

• Jordan was carved out of historic “Palestine” and has a Palestinian-majority population.

• From 1948 to 1967, Jordan occupied the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem; no one called for a Palestinian state then.

• Jordan expelled thousands of Palestinians during Black September in 1970. No UN inquiries. No global protests.

So why does the world obsess only over Israel when it comes to Palestinians? The answer is not justice, it’s targeted bias.

The “Nakba” and Its Weaponization

Every war creates refugees. Millions of Europeans were displaced after World War II. Millions of Hindus and Muslims fled during the partition of India and Pakistan. Jewish communities were ethnically cleansed from Arab countries after 1948, and nearly 850,000 lost their homes.

Yet only one refugee narrative, the Nakba — the “catastrophe” of Israel’s creation — has been turned into a political bludgeon used to delegitimize a nation’s very existence.

The Nakba isn’t just about land, it’s about denying Jewish nationhood. It’s about saying Israel’s creation was not just a tragedy, but a crime.

For centuries, Jews were persecuted, expelled, and slaughtered, always the victims. The world grew used to powerless Jews.

But the birth of Israel changed that.

Israel represents Jewish survival, sovereignty, and strength. That offends many, especially those who are more comfortable seeing Jews as victims rather than as a powerful, independent people.

When Israel defends itself, it’s accused of aggression. When other nations do the same, it’s called self-defense. That’s not diplomacy, that’s prejudice.

Israel’s Right to Exist Is Not a Debate

Israel is not a colonial project. It is not a foreign implant. It is the re-establishment of Jewish independence in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland, a land where Jewish identity, culture, and presence has remained continuously for over 3,000 years. There have always been Jews in this land.

The Jewish people have:

• A historical claim

• A legal claim (via the Balfour Declaration, League of Nations, and the UN)

• A moral claim, especially after surviving the Holocaust and centuries of exile.

Israel does not need permission to exist. Its right to life is self-evident.

Jordan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh were all created in the 20th century under controversial, religiously influenced conditions. Yet none face daily challenges to their legitimacy.

Only Israel does.

That says less about Israel and more about the international community, a community that too often tolerates antisemitism disguised as activism.

It’s time to stop holding Israel to impossible standards. Time to stop treating Jewish self-determination as an offense. And time to demand fairness, not favoritism, in international diplomacy.

Because the question isn’t, “Does Israel have the right to exist?”

The real question is, “why do so many people still believe it doesn’t?”

Sabine Sterk is the CEO of Time To Stand Up For Israel.

Israel has entered the first stages of its planned offensive to take control of Gaza City after a clash with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and already has a hold on the outskirts of the city, Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin told reporters on Wednesday.

The announcement came as Israel‘s military called up tens of thousands of reservists on Wednesday in preparation for the operation in Gaza City, the enclave’s biggest urban center, and as the Israeli government considered a new proposal for a ceasefire after nearly two years of war.

However, a military official briefing reporters said reserve soldiers would not report for duty until September, an interval that gives mediators some time to bridge gaps between Hamas and Israel over truce terms.

The official said that as part of planning for a new offensive in the Gaza Strip, there would be five divisions operating in the enclave, but most reservists were not expected to serve in combat in Gaza City.

“We will be moving into a new phase of combat, a gradual, precise, and targeted operation in and around Gaza City, which currently serves as Hamas’ main military and governing stronghold,” the official said.

Israel’s security cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, approved a plan this month to expand the campaign in Gaza with the aim of taking Gaza City, where Israeli forces waged fierce urban warfare with Hamas in the early stages of the war. Israel currently holds about 75 percent of the Gaza Strip.

Many of Israel’s closest Western allies have urged the government to reconsider, expressing concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities near the border, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages including children into Gaza.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

Hamas has accepted a proposal put forward by Arab mediators for a 60-day ceasefire that would involve releasing some of the remaining hostages and freeing Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

The Israeli government, which has said all the 50 remaining hostages must be released at once, is studying the proposal. Israeli authorities believe that 20 hostages are still alive.

Many Gazans and foreign leaders fear a storming of Gaza City would cause significant casualties. Israel says it will help civilians leave battle zones before any assault begins.

ISRAELI TROOPS, HAMAS FIGHTERS CLASH

Israeli troops clashed on Wednesday with more than 15 Hamas terrorists who emerged from tunnel shafts and attacked with gunfire and anti-tank missiles near Khan Younis, south of Gaza City, severely wounding one soldier and lightly wounding two others, an Israeli military official said.

In a statement, Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed carrying out a raid on Israeli troops southeast of Khan Younis and engaging Israeli troops at point-blank range. It said one fighter blew himself up among the soldiers, causing casualties, during an attack that lasted several hours.

Most Gazans have been displaced multiple times during the conflict and forced into densely packed areas along the Mediterranean coast, including in Gaza City in the enclave’s north.

Israeli officials have said evacuation orders would be issued to Gaza City residents before any force moves in.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which oversees Gaza‘s only Catholic Church, located in Gaza City, said it had received reports that neighborhoods near the small parish had started to receive evacuation notices.

Hamas, an Islamist movement that has ruled Gaza for almost two decades, has been severely weakened by the war. The Israeli military says Hamas has been reduced to a guerrilla force.

The Israeli military official who briefed reporters on Wednesday said Hamas had been trying to regroup and re-form in Gaza City in a more organized manner.

Hamas has said it would release all remaining hostages in exchange for an end to war. Israel says it will not end the war before Hamas disarms.

Opinion polls show strong Israeli public support for ending the war if it ensures the release of the hostages, and a rally in Tel Aviv urging the government to pursue such a deal drew a huge crowd on Saturday.