{"id":279461,"date":"2026-02-07T19:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T19:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/279461\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T19:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T19:48:07","slug":"albanese-says-isaac-herzogs-visit-will-bring-unity-but-to-many-palestinian-australians-its-a-slap-in-the-face-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/279461\/","title":{"rendered":"Albanese says Isaac Herzog\u2019s visit will bring unity \u2013 but to many Palestinian Australians it\u2019s a \u2018slap in the face\u2019 | Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been more than two years since Shamikh Badra last heard from his brother. He presumes his brother, sister-in-law and their four children lie buried under the rubble of their home in Gaza<\/a>. He fears they were buried alive.<\/p>\n

Badra told his family\u2019s story<\/a> at a march in Sydney last Sunday organised by the Palestine Action Group, protesting against Israeli president Isaac Herzog\u2019s upcoming visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what genocide looks like in real life,\u201d he bellowed into a microphone to the crowd of at least 2,000 people. \u201cThis is what incitement produces, this is what dehumanisation does.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now, we are told the man who defended these policies is welcome in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Badra is among many Palestinian Australians shocked Herzog will land in Australia on Monday for a four-day visit. In the words of Palestinian Australian Raneem Emad, it\u2019s \u201ca slap in the face\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Amid the outpouring of grief and anger over December\u2019s terrorist attack at a Hanukah gathering on Sydney\u2019s Bondi beach, much of the political focus \u2013 including Herzog\u2019s invitation \u2013 has, justifiably, centred around antisemitism and the treatment of Jewish Australians.<\/p>\n

But many Palestinian Australians grieving for their loved ones in Gaza feel that new anti-protest and hate speech laws are unfairly targeting them.<\/p>\n

\u2018Our lives are worth less\u2019<\/p>\n

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, invited Herzog after the 14 December antisemitic attack at Bondi, saying his visit was intended to foster \u201ca greater sense of unity\u201d. Major Jewish organisations and federal and state governments have welcomed Herzog\u2019s visit as a moment of profound significance.<\/p>\n

Other groups, including some Jewish Australian organisations, say the Israeli president should be barred from entering the country. They allege he incited genocide against Palestinians, pointing to a UN commission, which does not speak on behalf of the UN, which concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza<\/a> and that Herzog, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the then defence minister, Yoav Gallant, \u201chave incited the commission of genocide\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s foreign ministry rejected<\/a> the commission\u2019s report, calling it \u201cdistorted and false\u201d and claiming it \u201crelies entirely on Hamas falsehoods\u201d.<\/p>\n

Isaac Herzog has called the genocide case against Israel in the international court of justice a \u2018form of blood libel\u2019. Photograph: Abir Sultan\/AP<\/p>\n

Herzog has called the genocide case against Israel in the international court of justice<\/a> a \u201cform of blood libel\u201d<\/a> and pushed back on criticism of his 2023 statement<\/a> that \u201cit is an entire nation out there that is responsible\u201d for the 7 October attacks on Israel.<\/p>\n

He claimed he had been taken out of context and noted he had said in the same media appearance that Israel<\/a> would respect international law and there was no excuse for the killing of innocent civilians. The ICJ is yet to issue its final ruling.<\/p>\n

Badra, who moved to Sydney 11 years ago and is undertaking a PhD, has sent a letter urging the government to assess its legal obligations under international law before Herzog arrives in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not be encouraging people who incite genocide by rolling out the red carpet,\u201d Badra says. \u201cWhat is the value of celebrating someone like this? What really can you gain?\u201d<\/p>\n

To Raneem Emad, \u201cbeing a Palestinian with heritage in Gaza is such a significant part of me that this visit really does feel like a slap in the face\u201d.<\/p>\n

So many of us have lost tens, if not dozens, of family members in GazaRaneem Emad<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just this reminder that, no matter how many speeches or statements the Australian government makes that it wants us to be united in social cohesion, our lives are worth less.\u201d<\/p>\n

She plans to be at a protest against Herzog\u2019s visit on Monday. The rallies create \u201cso much sense of community\u201d, she says \u2013 but are also part of a push for concrete goals, including for Australia to end weapons exports to Israel<\/a> and to implement boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many of us have lost tens, if not dozens, of family members in Gaza and no one understands that feeling like another Palestinian mother or someone else who has unfortunately had to face such traumatic loss,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The right to protest<\/p>\n

Badra has barely missed a Palestine Action Group rally since 7 October 2023. He marched that December after news his father died in Gaza amid a lack of food, medication and clean water. He marched throughout 2024 and 2025 as he fought to get his mother out of Gaza to Sydney. They were finally reunited in October<\/a>; he hasn\u2019t told her Herzog is visiting because he does not want to upset her.<\/p>\n

And he marched in August after he was verbally abused on a train<\/a> because his brother was wearing a Palestinian scarf.<\/p>\n

On Monday, he says he will be protesting. This is despite a new New South Wales law passed after the Bondi terror attack which curtails the ability for demonstrators to march, and an additional \u201cmajor event\u201d declaration that further adds to police powers to restrict protest<\/a>. On Saturday, the police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, confirmed the protest\u2019s planned route from Town Hall through the CBD was \u201cunauthorised\u201d.<\/p>\n

Three NSW Labor backbenchers have said they will protest<\/a> on Monday, with one stating he will be attending because Australia should not be welcoming the head of a state engaged in an \u201congoing genocide\u201d. A group of 13 MPs on Saturday wrote an open letter to Lanyon calling for them to permit the march.<\/p>\n

As the premier, Chris Minns, announced the \u201cextraordinary powers\u201d to restrict protests after a terrorism declaration<\/a>, he claimed the \u201cimplications\u201d of pro-Palestine rallies could be seen in the Bondi terror attack that killed 15 people.<\/p>\n

The NSW premier, Chris Minns, pictured with Anthony Albanese, claimed the \u2018implications\u2019 of pro-Palestine rallies could be seen in the Bondi terror attack that killed 15 people. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi\/AAP<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, said in the hours after the Bondi massacre \u201cthis did not come without warning\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Australia, it began on 9 October 2023 at the Sydney Opera House<\/a>,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cWe then watched a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge<\/a> waving terrorist flags and glorifying extremist leaders. Now death has reached Bondi beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Greens recently warned<\/a> the Albanese government\u2019s new hate speech laws could see critics of Israel\u2019s government targeted for prosecution. A NSW parliamentary inquiry \u2013 called after the Bondi attacks \u2013 has recommended banning the phrase \u201cglobalise the intifada\u201d<\/a> when it is used to incite hatred, harassment, intimidation or violence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The criminals who attack people in Bondi are not Palestinians. They are not a part of the solidarity movementShamikh Badra<\/p>\n

Badra says he is shocked that a parallel has been drawn between the attack on Bondi and protesting against the murder of his family and what the UN commission has called a genocide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe criminals who attack people in Bondi are not Palestinians. They are not a part of the solidarity movement,\u201d he says. \u201cWe oppose antisemitism, we oppose Islamophobia, we oppose racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dalia Ahq, who has been protesting on Sydney\u2019s streets for a free Palestine<\/a> for two decades, agrees. She says the movement\u2019s concerns have always been dismissed but that has been exacerbated over the past two years, and has again after the Bondi tragedy.<\/p>\n

She called on the police to let protesters march peacefully against Herzog\u2019s visit on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk is not us protesting but the police not allowing us to,\u201d she says. \u201cIf they let us, it would minimise the risk of any arrests, any injuries in doing what we have the democratic right to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Palestine Action Group has launched a legal challenge<\/a> against NSW\u2019s anti-protest laws passed after the Bondi attack.<\/p>\n

The president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, has said that \u2018Australia\u2019s political elite is siding with genocide\u2019 by welcoming Herzog. Photograph: Flavio Brancaleone\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s Josh Lees says some of the prominent Palestinian advocates in the movement have withdrawn from the public eye because of doxing and safety concerns.<\/p>\n

Lees fears the Bondi tragedy is being exploited to try to silence the movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just an upside-down world we\u2019re living in, where we are just trying to protest on the streets against a genocide and yet constantly the government or the media are trying to make out that we are the bad guys,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

The president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, has said<\/a> that \u201cAustralia\u2019s political elite is siding with genocide\u201d by welcoming Herzog.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor every Australian who says they believe in democracy, human rights, a fair go, free speech, then you simply must protest Herzog\u2019s visit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Badra has urged the police and Minns government to let him, and an estimated 5,000 others in Sydney, march on Monday without fear of prosecution.<\/p>\n

He says he will be there, and any protests, for the same reason given in his speech to the rally on Sunday: \u201cI stand here for my father, for my brother, for his family, and for every Palestinian life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been more than two years since Shamikh Badra last heard from his brother. He presumes his brother,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-279461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}