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\n\t\t2024, Volodymyr Zelensky signs a bomb, Image courtesy of Press Service of the President of Ukraine<\/p>\n
Most of my Israeli friends are unaware of the political storm their president is currently causing in Australia. They are understandably preoccupied with other things: cleaning bomb shelters ahead of a possible war with Iran, for instance. Australia is very, very far away. And yet in Australia, the fact that Israeli President Isaac Herzog is due next week for an official visit has certainly not gone unnoticed.\n<\/p>\n
Greens senator David Shoebridge opined:\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to express just how disgraceful the government\u2019s invitation of Israel\u2019s president Herzog is. They know it will inflame community divisions\u2026 We\u2019ve seen the photo of President Herzog signing bombs that were sent into Gaza. He\u2019s accused by a UN commission of inquiry of inciting genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labor veteran MP Ed Husic similarly said:\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it hard to reconcile the images I\u2019ve seen of him signing bombs that were then dropped on Palestinian homes\u2026 I am concerned that a figure like that doesn\u2019t necessarily advance social cohesion.\u201d<\/p>\n
These statements are useful for several reasons. They are representative of the standard position of the Australian left; from parliament to protests in the streets of major cities, the furore over Herzog\u2019s visit is difficult to overstate. They also encapsulate many of the misleading and defamatory claims levelled against Israel. Together, they form a case study in the double standards, selective outrage, and fundamental misreading of reality that characterize the anti-Israel movement. And they are easily debunked.\n<\/p>\n
The first claim that can be dismissed is the pretence that opposition to Herzog\u2019s visit is driven by concern for \u201ccommunity division\u201d or \u201csocial cohesion.\u201d This language serves mainly to cloak a political position in the guise of civic responsibility. It is worth asking where this concern for cohesion was when, for nearly two years, tens of thousands of protesters shut down central Sydney and Melbourne on a weekly basis, many calling for intifada and wearing terrorist insignia. Discomfort with Herzog\u2019s visit is not about community harmony. It maps almost perfectly onto attitudes toward Israel, and critics should drop their concerned posturing and admit it.\n<\/p>\n
Equally apparent is the double standard applied to Herzog. Since October 2023, Australia has hosted several senior foreign leaders. In 2024, Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited Canberra, representing a repressive autocracy that systematically suppresses minorities and detains millions of Muslims in \u201cre-education\u201d camps. That same year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was welcomed. In late 2025, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto\u2014leader of a country where homosexuality is illegal and mandatory hijab laws are widespread\u2014was also warmly received.\n<\/p>\n
In none of these cases did Shoebridge feel compelled to denounce the visits in the Senate. This is not a peripheral observation, nor is it mere \u201cwhataboutism.\u201d The selective application of moral outrage is central to how Israel is discussed and must be acknowledged if the debate is to be honest.\n<\/p>\n
The near-obsessive focus on a photograph of Herzog signing an artillery shell further illustrates a deeper problem. The West, and the Anglosphere in particular, has so lost touch with the realities of war that it judges Israel\u2019s wartime behavior by peacetime sensibilities. Herzog\u2019s autographed shell is presented as evidence of a supposedly sick society infatuated with violence, when in fact it reflects a longstanding wartime practice. Allied leaders signed weaponry during World War II; American politicians did so during the Vietnam War; and more recently, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed artillery used in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t2024, Volodymyr Zelensky signs a bomb, Image courtesy of Press Service of the President of Ukraine<\/p>\n
From the comfort of Australia, this tradition may appear crude or lacking in grace. That reaction is understandable. But it is not evidence of moral depravity. Australians should be cautious about judging the morale-boosting gestures of a democracy that has had to mobilize hundreds of thousands of reservists to fight what it understands to be an existential war.\n<\/p>\n