Former AFP officer David Craig calls Anthony Albanese’s response to wave of anti-Semitic attacks ‘spineless’ after childcare attack

A former senior Australian Federal Police officer has taken aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the alarming spate of anti-Semitic attacks, accusing the federal government of letting hate speech towards the Jewish community fester.

Former detective superintendent David Craig made the remarks following the firebomb attack on a childcare centre around the corner from a synagogue in Maroubra in Sydney’s east earlier this week.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Former AFP officer lays into federal government over anti-Semitic attack.

Emergency services responded to Only About Children childcare centre on the corner of Anzac Pde and Storey St, Maroubra, on Tuesday at 1am, following reports of a fire.

Arsonists also spray-painted an anti-Semitic slur on its exterior wall.

Albanese yielded to pressure and on Tuesday by calling a national cabinet meeting of state and territory leaders on Tuesday to respond to the wave of anti-Semitic attacks, however, it has so far only announced the establishment of a database to keep track of the attacks.

When questioned on Wednesday by Sunrise host Nat Barr, Craig took aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“Are you saying this federal government has allowed this sort of hate speech to fester?” Barr asked, during the heated interview.

“One hundred per cent I’m saying that,” Craig said.

“(In all) my time in counterterrorism with the federal police, I’ve never seen a spineless response to hatred and un-Australian behaviour by a prime minister.”

Craig said Albanese should have acted immediately after the infamous Sydney Opera House demonstration.

Pro-Palestine protesters marched on the venue chanting anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric when it was lit up in the blue and white of the Israeli flag two days after the brutal Hamas attacks on October 7.

“For a start, we should have drawn a line in the sand of that disgusting protest of our national icon, the Opera House, by Palestinian people chanting racist hate speech right there on our icon,” Craig said.

“What we need to do is the federal police have got fingers in a lot of different countries, a lot of different networks are intelligence, we’ve also got ASIO domestic and overseas intelligence agencies with the five eyes partners.”

In the wake of the attack on the childcare centre this week, Albanese called the act an evil hate crime.

‘My government will support NSW Police to hunt down the offenders and ensure they face the full force of the law through Operation Avalite,’ Albanese said.

Craig also took aim at radical pro-Palestinian protesters.

“Any of these very radical Palestinian protesters are prone to this type of activity — it’s nothing new in Australia,” Craig said.

He spoke about his time as a bodyguard for high-ranking officials in the 1990s and said firebombings were not new.

“The difference now is that we’ve allowed so much intolerance to go on in this sphere that now are trying to play catch up. The national cabinet meeting yesterday was months too late. Now police are trying to play catch up.”