Israeli President Isaac Herzog received two very different receptions in Australia on Monday – a warm welcome by a government determined to show solidarity with its grieving Jewish community, and mass protests by activists who consider him a war criminal.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited Herzog to visit as a gesture of unity with Jewish Australians after 15 people were killed at a Hanukkah festival near Sydney’s Bondi Beach – the worst terror attack committed in the country.
In the weeks after the December 14 attack, the government has repeatedly pushed the need for social cohesion. However, Albanese’s decision to invite Herzog – the head of state of a country accused of genocide in Gaza, a claim Israel’s government denies – has angered many Australians and even led to calls for the visitor’s arrest.
After touching down in Sydney on Monday, Herzog laid a wreath at Bondi Pavilion, near the site of the massacre, as across town lawyers for the Palestine Action Group argued in court for their right to protest his visit within an area subject to new government restrictions.
Like many nations across the world, Australia has experienced sharp divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza that have spilled into protests – and as many as 30 were planned nationwide on Monday to mark Herzog’s visit.
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