brisbane
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Israeli President Isaac Herzog will receive two very different welcomes when he arrives in Australia on Monday. A warm welcome by a government determined to show solidarity with the grieving Jewish community, and massive protests by activists who view the president as a war criminal.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited Mr Herzog to visit as a show of solidarity with Jewish Australians after 15 people were killed in the country’s deadliest terrorist attack at a Hanukkah festival near Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
In the weeks since the December 14 attacks, the government has repeatedly emphasized the need for social cohesion. But Mr Albanese’s decision to invite Mr Herzog, the head of state of the country accused of genocide in Gaza, a claim denied by the Israeli government, has angered many Australians and even led to calls for the visitor’s arrest.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC radio: “I understand the depth of emotion around this visit, the depth of community feeling over what we’ve seen in Gaza over the last two years… but this visit is about a grieving Jewish community and I want Australians to remember that.”
Like many countries around the world, Australia is experiencing bitter divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza, which has spilled over into protests, with further protests planned in as many as 30 cities across the country on Monday to mark Mr Herzog’s visit.
The largest crowd is expected to gather in front of Sydney City Hall, where up to 5,000 pro-Palestinian protesters are expected to gather, despite restrictions on protests in the area following the Bondi massacre.
Police say protesters risk arrest if they move beyond City Hall Square. Protest organizer Josh Rees of the Palestinian Action Group says demonstrators will not be intimidated.
“Mr. Herzog intends to turn out in large numbers to peacefully protest that he is not welcome,” he said in a message posted on Instagram.
Major Jewish organizations in Australia, including the Australian Jewish Executive Council and the Australian Jewish Association, welcomed Mr Herzog’s visit and condemned the planned protests.
“President Herzog is a patriot, a dignified and caring man whose office transcends party politics,” said Alex Rivchin, co-chief executive of ECAJ, which represents about 200 Jewish organizations nationwide.
“He is someone who has sadly had to comfort families, law enforcement and first responders many times after terrorist attacks, and he will know how to reassure and strengthen our community during our darkest times.”
As Israel’s head of state, Herzog has a largely ceremonial role in executive decision-making led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has set a goal of annihilating Hamas in the wake of the October 7 massacre that left more than 70,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity. And last September, an independent United Nations investigation found that Prime Minister Netanyahu, Gallant, and Herzog “incited a commission of genocide.”
The commission pointed to comments made by Herzog less than a week after Hamas militants killed and kidnapped hundreds of Israelis on October 7, 2023, in which he said “the entire nation” was involved in the Hamas attack.
The commission found that his words “could reasonably be interpreted as inciting Israeli security force personnel to target Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group for which they are collectively responsible.”
After the report was released, Herzog angrily dismissed it as lacking legitimacy.
The presidential palace has not responded to CNN’s request for comment. But Herzog has previously rejected claims that all Palestinians were to blame for the attack.
One of the report’s authors, Chris Sidoti, a former Australian human rights commissioner, said Australia had a legal and moral obligation to detain Herzog on arrival, but he did not think that would happen in practice.
“I’m sure he would not have even attempted this trip if he had not been given assurances from the Australian government that he would not be arrested,” he said. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) confirmed Mr Herzog was protected by diplomatic immunity.
Israeli officials told CNN that the Israeli Ministry of Justice assured Herzog and his delegation that there was no threat of arrest because it was a state visit and no one in the party had a warrant.
One of Herzog’s top aides, Doron Almog, head of the Jewish Agency, is also the subject of a formal complaint filed with AFP by four legal groups, including the Australian Center for International Justice (ACIJ) and Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq.
Almog, a former general in the Israel Defense Forces, reportedly canceled a planned trip to South Africa because he feared he would be arrested there by a country that had filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Unlike Mr. Herzog, Mr. Almog does not have diplomatic immunity, his lawyers said.
CNN has contacted the Jewish News Agency for comment.
In an interview with The Australian before his arrival, Mr Herzog said he wanted to use the trip to confront “lies and misinformation” about Israel.
“It’s time to break free from the brainwashing campaign that has been going on for quite some time within the Australian public, both against Jews and against Israelis.”
But not all Jewish organizations in Australia are ready to welcome him.
The Jewish Council of Australia, a progressive advocacy group, accused Albanians of using Jewish grief as a “political prop and diplomatic backdrop”.
Sarah Schwartz, the group’s executive director, said in a statement that Herzog’s acceptance “risks perpetuating a dangerous and anti-Semitic link between Jewish identity and the actions of the Israeli state.” “This does not make Jews safer. It has the opposite effect.”
The group announced on Monday that a full-page open letter signed by “hundreds of Jews” will be published in two major Australian newspapers to “send a loud message that Mr Herzog is not welcome here”.
After the Bondi attack, many in the Jewish community said Albanians had not done enough to stamp out anti-Semitism, which has worsened since Israel tried to avenge Hamas’ brutal attacks.
In the two years to September 2025, when Netanyahu’s government reduced much of Gaza to rubble and the Palestinian death toll rose, Jewish groups recorded more than 3,700 “anti-Semitic incidents” in Australia, including the burning of synagogues, car torching and anti-Semitic graffiti.
The shaken Jewish community was forced to tighten its security, fearing that hatred could turn into bloodshed.
Days after the Bondi Beach massacre, allegedly committed by a father and son who espoused the Islamic State ideology, the government announced sweeping new gun laws, tougher rules against hate speech and increased powers for the Home Secretary to cancel visas on character grounds.
Mr Albanese called on Australia’s governor general to formally invite Mr Herzog to the country, as his political rivals called for a parliamentary recall and a special federal inquiry into the attack.
Just over a month later, police this weekend held talks with the Sydney-based Palestinian Action Group in an attempt to persuade them to accept a compromise protest location away from City Hall.
UN Commissioner Sidoti said the Australian government had made a “tragic mistake” in inviting Mr Herzog at a time of deep division.
“This mistake should have been corrected weeks ago. It’s never too late to correct it, but with each passing moment it becomes less and less likely, which is very unfortunate.”
“This is a visit that has serious implications for Australia’s social cohesion.”
