Pres Trump: Ban Australian PM to Send a Message Against Antisemitism

President Donald J. Trump,

As a Rabbi who has long admired your bold defense of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, I write to you now with urgent moral concern. I implore you to take the extraordinary but necessary step of publicly calling for a ban on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese from entering the United States of America. This would serve as a powerful signal that the United States—under your leadership and the leadership of moral nations—will grant no quarter to heads of state who tolerate, excuse, or enable the modern-day bloodletting of the Jewish people.

Australia, once a staunch ally of Israel and a democratic light in the Southern Hemisphere, has tragically devolved into a sewer of antisemitism. I have written repeatedly about this appalling trend. What was once the home of a proud Jewish community, where mybwide Debbie was born and raised, has become a nation in which Jews fear wearing kippot in public, synagogues are defaced and burned to the ground, and Jewish students are harassed on university campuses simply for being Jewish and  Israel.

But the rot goes deeper than societal antisemitism—it is now firmly embedded in the Australian government itself.

Under Prime Minister Albanese, Australia has witnessed not only a surge in antisemitic incidents, but a staggering moral collapse in the face of Hamas’ atrocities. Since October 7, when over 1,200 Israelis were butchered by Hamas terrorists—burned alive, raped, and mutilated in the most grotesque pogrom since the Holocaust—Australia’s response under Albanese has ranged from tepid to disgraceful.

Rather than standing firmly with Israel in her darkest hour, Albanese’s government has embraced a shameful moral equivalence. His administration has condemned Israel’s self-defense in Gaza while remaining disgracefully muted about the barbarity of Hamas. Even worse, Australia joined the chorus of nations at the United Nations that sought to isolate and demonize Israel for defending its people.

Let us be clear: this is not diplomacy—it is complicity.

When a national leader fails to denounce the slaughter of Jews with clarity and conviction, and instead panders to those who justify terrorism, he becomes morally culpable. When Prime Minister Albanese refuses to treat Hamas as the genocidal death cult it is, he dishonors the memory of the victims and emboldens the next massacre.

Mr. President, you have never been afraid to speak truth to power. You were the first U.S. President to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, to move the embassy there, and to push back against the institutional antisemitism that has infected bodies like the UN Human Rights Council. Your voice on behalf of the Jewish people has been unwavering, even when it was politically inconvenient.

That is why I urge you now: use that voice once more.

Call for the United States to place Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on a list of foreign officials barred from entry. Such a move would not be without precedent. The U.S. has previously denied entry to foreign leaders and officials responsible for human rights abuses or inciting violence. Albanese’s betrayal of democratic values and Jewish safety places him squarely in this category.

This is not merely about punishing a weak and morally compromised leader. It is about sending a message to the world: America stands with the Jewish people—not just in word, but in deed. America does not do business as usual with those who look away as Jewish blood is spilled.

Prime Minister Albanese has repeatedly failed the test of moral leadership. Since the rise in antisemitic violence across Australia—swastikas on Jewish homes, violent protests outside synagogues, anti-Israel mobs terrorizing Jewish neighborhoods—his government has responded with platitudes, not policy. He has not fortified protections for Jewish Australians. He has not cracked down on hate preachers who incite violence. And he has done precious little to stem the tide of anti-Zionist hatred on university campuses, where Jewish students are routinely targeted.

Worse still, Albanese’s government has supported international resolutions that cast Israel as a pariah state while turning a blind eye to Hamas’ war crimes. To what moral depths must a leader fall before we say: Enough?

I have warned in my writings that Australia – a country I love and where I was a Founder of the Rabbinical College of Sydney in 1986 – has become a cesspit of antisemitism, and Albanese’s leadership has only accelerated this decline. This is not hyperbole—it is a tragic reality. Jewish Australians now live in fear. Many are considering emigration. Synagogues require small armies of security guards. Children are being taught to conceal their identities. This is not the Australia I once knew. It is a nation in moral crisis.

President Trump, you have always understood that antisemitism does not arise in a vacuum. It thrives when good men say nothing. It metastasizes when leaders excuse it. And it reaches lethal proportions when nations normalize those who enable it.

By barring Prime Minister Albanese from the United States, you would send a thunderous message to the world: antisemitism and the failure to fight it has consequences. You would restore moral clarity to a global conversation mired in cowardice and false equivalencies. And you would honor the victims of October 7—not with speeches, but with action.

History is watching. The Jewish people are watching. And your millions of supporters, who care deeply about the safety of Jews worldwide, are watching.

In the 1930s, as antisemitism spread through Europe, most world leaders turned their backs. They made excuses. They appeased. They hoped that by looking away, the flames would not reach them. But they were wrong. The fire consumed six million of our people—and ultimately engulfed the world.

We cannot make that mistake again. We must confront antisemitism in its earliest stages, before it becomes unstoppable. That means holding leaders accountable—especially when they have the power to act and choose silence instead.

Prime Minister Albanese has failed that test. He has failed his Jewish citizens. He has failed Israel. Most of all he has failed the great citizens of Australia. In so doing he has failed the basic standards of decency expected of a democratic leader.

President Trump, I urge you: take this stand. Lead the world once more in defending the Jewish people. Ban Prime Minister Albanese from the United States and declare that America will not tolerate moral cowardice in the face of Jewish suffering.

Silence is complicity. Action is justice.

Respectfully,

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Author of “Judaism for Everyone,” “Kosher Sex,” “The Israel Warrior,” and “Holocaust Holiday.” Founder, The World Values Network.