'
The Israeli president’s planned visit to Australia after the Bondi attack has provoked mixed reactions
International

The Israeli president’s planned visit to Australia after the Bondi attack has provoked mixed reactions

author
5 minutes, 21 seconds Read

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s recently announced plan to visit Australia in the wake of a terror attack on Australia’s Jewish community has drawn mixed reactions.
While mainstream Jewish organizations have welcomed the news, critics have said his visit would be divisive and a “direct insult” to those who have been protesting Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he spoke to Herzog on Tuesday to express his “deep shock and dismay” over the attack on a Hanukkah event in Bondi on December 14, which left 15 people dead.
“On the recommendation of the Australian Government, the Governor General of Australia will, in accordance with protocol, extend an invitation to President Herzog to visit Australia as soon as possible,” Albanese wrote on X.

Speaking to media in Canberra on Wednesday morning, Albanese said the visit would allow Herzog to “honor and remember the victims of the anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Bondi and provide support to Jewish Australians and the Australian Jewish community at this time”.

Albanese said he had not spoken to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu – who was outspoken critical of his leadership and the decision to recognize a Palestinian state – since the attack, and declined to say whether he would invite him to Australia.
He would not comment on the criticism, telling reporters: “I don’t think this is the time for party politics.”
“We have invited President Herzog, which is completely appropriate for the visit of the head of state,” he said.
In a statement broadcast on Tuesday, the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) said its president, Jeremy Leibler, first wrote a letter to the Israeli president, inviting him to Australia to support the grieving nation and shatter its Jewish community.

“In the days after Bondi, our community reached out directly to President Herzog because this wasn’t just an attack on individuals – it struck the deepest sense of security that Jewish Australians have carried with them for generations,” Leibler said.

“We are grateful that the Australian government has now responded to that call and, in accordance with protocol, will extend the formal invitation for a state visit,” Leibler said.
“That matters – because it shows at the highest national level that Australia stands with its Jewish citizens, and Australia stands with Israel, against terrorism and hate.”
In a statement confirming the visit, Herzog also expressed “profound shock and horror at the catastrophic terror attack on the Australian Jewish community in Sydney last week”.

“I expressed my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and my prayers for a speedy recovery for all the injured,” he wrote on X.

Herzog also said the attack underlined the need to “take all legal measures to combat the unprecedented rise in anti-Semitism, extremism and jihadist terror.”
Since the attack, security has been tightened around Jewish sites across Australia, as authorities respond to increased concerns about the community’s safety.

Details about Herzog’s visit are expected to be confirmed in the coming days. The ZFA said it would happen “early in the new year”.

‘A community living with fear’

The ZFA – Australia’s peak body for Zionist organizations – characterized Herzog’s visit as an important moment for the Australian Jewish community, with Leibler saying it would be an important moment of solidarity and healing.
“President Herzog’s presence will provide comfort to those who mourn and reassurance to a community living in fear,” he said.
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry – Australia’s main body for Jewish organizations – said the upcoming visit would “provide enormous comfort to the families and lift the spirits of those still in hospital”.
The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) – a progressive Jewish group formed in the wake of the October 7 attacks and Israel’s retaliatory attack on the Gaza Strip – said Herzog’s visit would be divisive and unlikely to be a source of comfort for all Australian Jews.
“A visit from the head of a foreign country that has committed genocide will only increase tensions and exacerbate divisions in our community, which is why we and many other Australian Jews will take no comfort from this proposed visit,” Ohad Kozminsky, executive member of the JCA, told SBS News.

“Such divisive invitations will not help the Australian community heal. For true healing, we need the government to strengthen gun laws, protect the right to protest, adopt the Australian Human Rights Commission’s anti-racism framework, regulate companies that spread hate online and promote grassroots intercultural initiatives,” Kozminsky said.

“If Australia wants to ‘combat anti-Semitism, hatred and violence’, as Mr Leibler insists, it must impose sanctions whose head of state encouraged genocide shortly after October 7 when he said that ‘[i]It is an entire nation that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about citizens not being aware and not involved,” Kozminsky added.
Herzog made that statement at a press conference on October 12, 2023.
“I was disgusted by the way they twisted my words, using very, very partial and fragmented quotes, with the intention of supporting a fabricated legal claim,” he said as reported by Haaretz.
“There are also innocent Palestinians in Gaza. I am deeply sorry for the tragedy they are experiencing,” he said.

However, he added that there was a “reality that could not be ignored, a reality that we all saw with our own eyes, as published by Hamas on that cursed day, and that was the involvement of many Gazans in the massacre, in the looting and in the riots of October 7. How the crowds in Gaza cheered at the sight of the Israelis being slaughtered and their bodies mutilated,” Haaretz told the president.

‘A serious moral failure’

The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) also condemned the decision to invite Herzog to Australia.

“This decision represents a grave moral failure and a direct insult to the hundreds of thousands of Australians who have protested Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians for more than two years and are demanding accountability under international law,” said a press release signed by APAN President Nasser Mashni.
“This invitation comes as governments move to expand protest and dissent laws aimed at silencing opposition.
“Australians could potentially be prevented from protesting Herzog’s visit and face criminal charges – a dangerous escalation that erodes democratic freedoms to shield a visiting foreign leader from liability.”
Mashni also drew attention to Herzog’s statements about apparent Palestinian support for the October 7 attacks, saying this was “language that legitimizes collective punishment and mass civilian killings.”

#Israeli #presidents #planned #visit #Australia #Bondi #attack #provoked #mixed #reactions

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *