Israel’s Convenient Lie: Iran to Blame

Expelling Tehran’s envoy diverts attention from genocide in Gaza and shields Netanyahu from global outrage.

Once again, Iran it appears remains the forever demon. The sudden calls in Canberra to suspend or even expel its ambassador from Australia, after claims of Iranian links to two alleged synagogue attacks in Victoria, read less like credible intelligence and more like political theatre. At best, the story is riddled with holes.

At worst, it’s a deliberately concocted distraction, designed to shift attention from Israel’s mounting war crimes in Gaza and its rapidly eroding global legitimacy.

The timing alone demands scrutiny. As the world watches in horror at the deliberate starvation, bombardment, and displacement of Palestinians, Israel faces unprecedented criticism. Public opinion in Australia and globally has shifted decisively in support of Palestinian statehood.

Major allies are rethinking their unquestioning support for Netanyahu’s government. Into this crisis for Israel drops a narrative too convenient to be coincidence - that Iran, Israel’s chief regional rival, is secretly behind attacks on Jewish institutions in Melbourne.

The question almost asks itself: what possible benefit would Iran gain from targeting synagogues in suburban Australia?

Iran has one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Middle East. Tens of thousands of Jews live there today, with synagogues, schools, and even a reserved seat in the Iranian parliament. Tehran’s conflict isn’t with Jews as a people but with Israel as a state. It has no history of directing violence against Jewish communities abroad, and certainly no reason to select Australia — a country with limited strategic relevance — as the stage for such an attack. And now out of the blue, Iran is responsible for the attacks on two Melbourne synagogues.

If Iran wanted to send a political signal, it could act far closer to home - in the Persian Gulf, in Iraq, in Lebanon, or in Syria. The idea Tehran would jeopardise its own credibility by striking synagogues in Melbourne isn’t only implausible but absurdly bizarre.

What makes far more sense is that the story has been shaped — even scripted — by Israel and the US, then fed into Canberra. Washington and Tel Aviv are desperate to restore the narrative of Iran as the world’s great menace, particularly as Israel reels from global condemnation over Gaza. Australia has seen over the past week the desperate lengths the Murdoch media empire has gone to attempt to sway public opinion and recapture the narrative.

By pushing Iran into the spotlight, Washington and Tel Aviv are attempting to divert attention from Israeli atrocities and recast the conflict back into the “war on terror” framing that once suited them so well, and Australia is being used as the gullible victim.

It’s an old playbook. Each time Israel’s conduct provokes outrage, a new Iranian “plot” emerges. The pattern is too consistent to ignore.

The darker possibility is that these synagogue incidents are not Iranian plots at all, but false flag operations — staged or facilitated to create the appearance of Iranian culpability.

Israel has a documented history of such tactics. The Lavon Affair in the 1950s saw Israeli operatives attempt bombings in Egypt to blame Arabs and sway British opinion. Covert operations against Iran’s nuclear program have been conducted with plausible deniability for years. Against this backdrop, the idea that Israeli intelligence might manipulate or even manufacture incidents abroad to demonise Tehran is not far-fetched — it’s precedent.

If the aim is to paint Iran as the aggressor, pressure Australia into hostile action, and distract global audiences from Israel’s genocide in Gaza, then the pieces fit all too neatly.

Australia’s response will be the real test. Will it act on genuine, verifiable intelligence — or on pressure from its allies? Expelling an ambassador isn’t symbolic diplomacy; it’s a rupture of relations. To consider such a move based on allegations that defy logic is reckless in the extreme.

If intelligence agencies possess evidence, it must be presented publicly. Without it, Canberra risks compounding not only an intelligence failure but a moral one — by becoming complicit in the demonisation campaign orchestrated to shield Israel.

What matters most is what this narrative seeks to obscure: Israel’s war crimes. While Australian headlines debate Iranian plots, children in Gaza die of starvation. While Canberra flirts with expelling diplomats, entire Palestinian neighbourhoods are reduced to rubble. The alleged synagogue attacks, whatever their origins, pale in comparison to the systematic devastation Israel has inflicted on millions of people under siege.

That’s the true scandal: that political leaders are more animated by dubious allegations against Iran than by the verified evidence of genocide carried out by Israel.

The push to punish Iran isn’t about protecting Australian democracy or Jewish communities, but about rescuing Israel’s collapsing narrative. It’s a convenient lie — one designed to demonise Tehran, distract from Netanyahu’s crimes, and silence the growing global demand for Palestinian justice.

Iran gains nothing from attacking synagogues in Melbourne. But Israel and its allies gain everything by blaming Iran and deflecting scrutiny from Gaza. Australians must see through this charade.

History won’t forgive those who, faced with genocide, chose to change the subject. All roads lead to Israel.