{"id":78004,"date":"2025-08-18T18:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/78004\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T18:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:10:09","slug":"australia-bans-far-right-mk-rothman-hours-before-trip-sparking-israeli-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/78004\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia bans far-right MK Rothman hours before trip, sparking Israeli backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia barred far-right Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman from visiting the country for a series of appearances, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Monday, accusing the politician of intending to \u201cspread division.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel later responded in anger, revoking the residency visas of Australia\u2019s representatives to the Palestinian Authority and implementing other steps.<\/p>\n

Rothman, a far-right lawmaker, had been slated to make a series of appearances at Jewish schools and synagogues and meet with victims of a recent wave of antisemitic attacks, according to the Australian Jewish Association, which invited him and confirmed that Rothman\u2019s visa had been cancelled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are coming to Australia to spread a message of hate and division, we don\u2019t want you here,\u201d Burke said. \u201cAustralia will be a country where everyone can be safe, and feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an automatic condition of the visa cancellation, Rothman is unable to travel to Australia for three years.<\/p>\n

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It was unclear which, if any, specific actions or comments by Rothman had triggered the move by Canberra.<\/p>\n

However, in a statement, Rothman said the decision was \u201ca surrender to terrorism and antisemitism that is rampant on the streets of Australia,\u201d and had been made due to the Knesset\u2019s vote<\/a> last month to pass a motion in favor of annexing the West Bank, a symbolic move by the parliament that is non-binding.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke attends a press conference in Jakarta on December 3, 2024 (BAY ISMOYO \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

He also said that he had been invited to speak as his views \u201creflect the mainstream of Israeli society: that Hamas has shown that Israel must defeat it, and that a Palestinian state poses a danger to the existence of the State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothman claimed in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster on Monday that the Australian government was \u201cthreatened by Islamist jihadists about what will happen if I am allowed to visit, and so instead of worrying about public order, instead of standing firm against terror, they surrendered to terror.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the AJA, the visa was canceled hours before Rothman was slated to fly to Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a viciously antisemitic move from a government that is obsessed with targeting the Jewish community and Israel,\u201d AJA head Robert Gregory said in a statement posted online by the group, which describes itself as a center-right organization.<\/p>\n

Gregory said Jews should think twice before visiting Australia, claiming that increasing numbers of Australian Jews are looking into emigrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is fully justified in taking strong measures in response to this, and we have briefed contacts in the Trump Administration who are also concerned about events in Australia,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) and members of the local Jewish community visiting the torched Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 10, 2024. (DEPARTMENT OF PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Hours after the announcement, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar decided to revoke the residency visas of Australia\u2019s representatives to the Palestinian Authority, according to a statement from his spokesperson.<\/p>\n

In addition, Sa\u2019ar instructed Israel\u2019s embassy in Canberra \u201cto carefully examine every official Australian visa request for entry into Israel,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar addresses a joint press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart at the Foreign Ministry in Vilnius on July 1, 2025. (Petras Malukas \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

The decisions, which were presented to the Australian ambassador a short while ago, \u201ccome in response to Australia\u2019s decisions to recognize a \u2018Palestinian state’\u201d in September, as well as its refusal earlier today, \u201cwithout any justification, to grant entry visas to a series of Israeli figures, among them former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when antisemitism in Australia is running rampant \u2014 including incidents of violence against Jews and Jewish institutions \u2014 the Australian government has chosen to inflame it further, by falsely claiming that visits by Israeli figures would disturb public order and harm Australia\u2019s Muslim population,\u201d Sa\u2019ar added in the statement.<\/p>\n

Coalition condemnation<\/p>\n

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned Australia\u2019s decision on X, calling it \u201ca historical stain and a shame for the Australian government\u201d and criticizing what he calls \u201cthe gloating cries of Israeli left-wing activists, the collaborators of Hamas, and those who defame Israel worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, also in a post on X in English, argued that barring Rothman from entry is \u201ca direct extension of [Australia\u2019s] disgraceful choice to honor the rapists and murderers of Hamas,\u201d reflecting \u201ca broken moral compass, discrimination, and a grave assault on free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is \u201cwrong to think appeasement of Islamist terror will advance Australia\u201d and said such policies risk following \u201cBritain\u2019s disastrous path.\u201d It was unclear exactly what Chikli was referring to with regards to the UK.<\/p>\n

Rothman, who heads the Knesset\u2019s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, is one of the architects of the controversial overhaul of the judicial system being pushed by the Israeli government.<\/p>\n

He is a member of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich\u2019s far-right Religious Zionism party. In June, Smotrich and Ben Gvir were both sanctioned<\/a> by Australia, alongside the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, for having \u201cincited extremist violence\u201d against Palestinians in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Smotrich openly calls for the resettlement of Gaza and said<\/a> in May that Israel will not withdraw from the Strip even if there is another hostage deal, telling Israelis to embrace the word \u201coccupation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chairman MK Simcha Rothman hold a press conference in the Knesset, March 21, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Canberra has taken an increasingly critical stance toward Israel in recent weeks, including announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state<\/a> next month, alongside a number of other Western nations.<\/p>\n

There are also tensions between the government and Australia\u2019s Jewish community amid a wave of antisemitic attacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In June, Australia barred pro-Israel activist and influencer Hillel Fuld because his presence would constitute a risk to \u201chealth, safety or good order,\u201d Burke\u2019s office said at the time.<\/p>\n

Last year, it blocked former justice minister Ayelet Shaked for similar reasons.<\/p>\n

In July, Canberra canceled US rapper Kanye West\u2019s visa over his song glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.<\/p>\n

Ariela Karmel contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia barred far-right Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman from visiting the country for a series of appearances, Home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-78004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}