Graham Arnold has called upon Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to help ensure the Socceroos play their 2026 World Cup qualifiers in venues that are "safe".
The Australian team have been drawn in an Asian Zone second qualifying stage group with Palestine, Lebanon and Bangladesh, who booked the last spot by beating the Maldives 2-1.
"We've got a pretty interesting group and we'll need government support for those decisions where we are playing Palestine and Lebanon, because of what is going on at the moment looks quite scary," Arnold said after his team's 2-0 friendly win over New Zealand in London later on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT).
Australia launch their campaign at Melbourne's AAMI Park against Bangladesh on November 16, then play Palestine five days later at a venue still to be decided.
The Algerian federation have claimed they will host Palestine's matches, but Arnold said he was not convinced that would be the case.
"I don't understand that," he said.
"As far as I know you have to play your qualifiers in the confederation where you play - and that's not part of Asia. So I don't think that's real.
"Everyone is uncomfortable, staff, players, we are only three weeks away from it. By Friday I think Palestine have to come up a with a neutral venue, and we have to be careful where that neutral venue is with what's going on.
"It is terrible what's going on, but FA (Football Australia) are working on it and let's hope we get some support and help from the government. The neutral venue has to be a neutral venue.
"When the (World Cup) draw came out and Japan had to play North Korea, Japan's prime minister straight away said 'we're not playing in North Korea.' It wasn't the president of the association, it was the prime minister.
"We're obviously not on top of everything that is going on in the security side of things in the Middle East, no doubt the government is more into that than we are - so give us some help so the decision is safe. We need to be safe."
The Albanese government has been supportive of Israel in the current crisis lighting up Parliament House in Canberra in the colours of the Israeli flag.
However, when the Socceroos played England at Wembley Stadium on Friday an even-handed statement of support for all victims of the crisis was made and the stadium arch was not lit up.
Reports in the English media have suggested it was partly because the Australian team, aware of their impending fixture with Palestine, were keen to avoid being linked with overt support for Israel.
Bangladesh earned their place in Australia's group by beating the Maldives 2-1 in Dhaka following a a 1-1 draw in the first leg.
The Socceroos have only previously played the Bengal Tigers, currently ranked 189th in the world, in 2015 during 2018 World Cup qualifying, winning 5-0 at home and 4-0 away. The top two teams from the group progress to the next stage.
