Australian mosque protesters heckle PM over Israel stance

Protesters heckled and booed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday during a visit to Australia's largest mosque for ​Eid al-Fitr prayers, voicing anger over his stance on ally Israel's ‌offensive in Gaza.

Some in Australia's Muslim and Jewish communities are angry over a fine line walked by the centre-left government since the Gaza war began, expressing concern for Palestinians, repeatedly urging a ceasefire, ​and backing Israel's right to self-defence.

Hecklers could be heard shouting "boo Tony Burke, boo Albanese", "genocide supporters", and "get them out of here". Other attendees appeared to give the prime minister and local member a warm welcome.

The speaker urged calm from the crowd, many of whom remained seated, before continuing his address.

"You called him honourable, he's responsible for the deaths of 1 billion people, 1 billion of our brothers and sisters," another attendee shouted.

"You don't represent us anymore."

The prime minister downplayed the incident on Friday, telling reporters that there were more than 30,000 people in attendance and "overwhelmingly the reception was incredibly positive".

"I walked through the crowd to the mosque, and not a single person heckled. There were a couple of hecklers inside; they were dealt with," he said.

"Contrary to what's been suggested, no-one was rushed out. We just sat there … it was dealt with by the community themselves because overwhelmingly they did not want that to occur."

Both Mr Albanese and Mr Burke remained until the end of the speech, which was held to mark the end of Ramadan, before being led out of the mosque run by the Lebanese Muslim Association.

The organisation's secretary, Gamel Kheir, defended the decision to invite the two politicians to the event while acknowledging he knew it would upset some community members who felt frustrated and alienated over a rise in Islamophobia.