Albanese urges restraint from pro-Palestine protesters during Israeli President’s trip
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged protesters to show restraint during Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s upcoming trip to Australia as NSW Premier Chris Minns warns demonstrators they will not have free run of his state during the controversial visit.
With pro-Palestine activists, including in the labour movement, preparing large demonstrations during the trip to protest the way Israel waged the war in Gaza, Minns vowed to do whatever necessary to protect the safety of Herzog and the community following the December 14 terror attack at Bondi.
Herzog is expected to visit Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne during his five-day trip, which begins on February 8.
Albanese said that “people, of course, have a right to express their views, and that will occur in a democratic society”.
“But I would make this point that President Herzog is coming particularly to engage with members of the Jewish community who are grieving the loss of 15 innocent lives. That is the particular focus of this visit,” he said.
Saying he welcomed Herzog’s trip to Australia, Albanese added: “We have too much division and people have their views on the Middle East, but I’ll make this point that Australia’s not in a position to solve by ourselves the Middle East issues, and people don’t want conflict brought here.
“So I’d say that people should recognise the solemn nature of the engagement that President Herzog will have with the community of Bondi in particular, and bear that in mind by the way that they respond over the coming weeks.”
Asked whether he would allow protests in Sydney during Herzog’s visit, Minns said: “I just want to make it clear, we’ll take any and every decision that we believe is appropriate to keep the president safe and the community safe.
“And if there’s an expectation that protesters are going to have free run of the city, I’m sorry that can’t be the case.
“I think most reasonable Australians would expect us to keep security and safety on the streets as well as respect a guest of Australia.”
Minns backed Albanese’s stance on the visit, saying that “President Herzog is in Australia to stand with the Jewish community of NSW after the worst terrorism event the country has ever seen”.
“I understand people are concerned about what’s happening around the world and in the Middle East, but this happened in Sydney, and I think there should be an opportunity for that community to grieve,” he said.
“I hope that people are respectful of that.”
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan welcomed Herzog’s visit this week and said she would be pleased to meet with him in Melbourne if he travels there.
The Labor Friends of Palestine group wrote to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke this week urging him to refuse to grant Herzog a visa on character grounds, with the group’s co-convenor Peter Moss saying the visit “makes a mockery of all the fine words about hate speech, social cohesion, unity and healing”.
Independent MP Sophie Scamps described Herzog as a “divisive figure”, saying “this visit risks heightening tensions and deepening divisions, at a time when the Government’s priority should be fostering social cohesion, security and safety for Jewish Australians and for all communities.”
However, peak Jewish groups such as the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Zionist Federation of Australia have welcomed Herzog’s visit, saying it would provide comfort to a community in mourning.
Herzog’s largely ceremonial position of president is similar to that of Australia’s governor-general, and he does not have direct influence in government decision-making on military affairs.
On Friday, former Adelaide Writers’ Week director Louise Adler warned progressive Australian Jews against allowing the royal commission into the Bondi massacre to be dominated by “pro-Israel propagandists”.
In a fundraising email for the left-wing Jewish Council of Australia, Adler wrote that “as the royal commission comes to life, the pro-Israel lobby has renewed their campaign to silence any criticism of Israel, to outlaw protest and constrain free speech”.
“This well-oiled machine has already cost us the most significant writers’ festival in the country,” she said.
“Now, these McCarthyites are threatening to criminalise university students and defund public institutions that dare to fulfil the essential promise of the arts: to inquire, to complicate, to challenge.”
The Israeli military on Friday said it believes that the Hamas-run health ministry’s death toll from the war in the Gaza Strip has been largely accurate, with an estimated 70,000 Palestinians killed in the war and an extra 10,000 people believed to be buried under rubble.
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