Just as Sydney begins the journey of healing following the horror at Bondi, the visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog risks inflaming tensions. Mass protests are planned and police are on high alert.
Ironically, the visit is aimed at social cohesion, but authorities clearly expect trouble.
Unlike December 14, when just two police officers were assigned to the Chanukah by the Sea event, NSW Police are preparing for massive confrontations. Some 500 officers will be deployed just for Monday’s Sydney protest march and an additional 3000 shifts are slated during the five-day visit.
Just eight days after the Bondi Beach killings, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acted on arrangements initiated by the Zionist Federation of Australia and formally invited Herzog to meet the Bondi victims’ families and the Jewish community.
The visit is intended to heal wounds, offer solidarity and recognition to a community still reeling from grief and fearful of further antisemitism. But Albanese said it also offered something to the wider community: “We need to build social cohesion in this country.”
However, politics is regrettably blurring this admirable attempt to foster unity, trust, shared values, and a sense of belonging.
As Israel’s head of state, Herzog’s role is constitutional and ceremonial. His family has been synonymous with modern Israel. A grandfather, Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog, was chief rabbi of Palestine, and then Israel, from 1936 until 1959. His father, Chaim Herzog, in 1986 was the first Israeli president to visit Australia, grateful that the then Hawke government had started the ball rolling to rescind a 1975 UN resolution that equated Zionism with racism and racial discrimination.
Relations remained cordial between the two nations until last September when Albanese, along with Canada and Britain, recognised the state of Palestine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Albanese of “betraying” Israel and he later blamed him for promoting the antisemitism that he said led to the Bondi Beach attack.
Some will argue that Herzog’s visit is an opportunity to rally support for a concerted campaign across Australia to stamp out antisemitism, and he will be welcomed by many in Australia’s Jewish community. However, not all of them.
The Jewish Council of Australia has signed an open letter opposing the visit: “We refuse to let our grief for the Bondi massacre be used to legitimise a leader who has played an active role in the ongoing destruction of Gaza, including the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians, and the displacement of millions.”
The Palestine Action Group’s plan to march from Town Hall on Monday evening, in clear breach of public assembly restrictions put in place by the Minns government following the Bondi terror attack, and the continuing refusal of protest organisers to meet with police, show the strength of feeling against the Israeli president.
Sadly, particularly for the families of those who lost loved ones on December 14, Monday is likely to be more about division than cohesion. Confrontations over a distant war should not overshadow the plight of an Australian community in mourning.
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