A controversial Israeli journalist could be barred from Australia because of inflammatory comments he made lamenting the fact there hadn’t been more casualties in Gaza and applauding the killing of Palestinian journalists.
Israeli journalist Zvi Yehezkeli is scheduled to speak at fundraising events next month in Sydney and Melbourne, but Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is considering using his powers to deny him a visa.
Burke told this masthead: “It always surprises me when someone, who has made the sorts of comments that this individual has, advertises a speaking tour before they’ve even received a visa.”
The looming decision comes as the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion prepares to hold its first public hearing on Tuesday, and the government moves to ban the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir under new laws passed after the Bondi terror attack.
“The ASIO advice is now in. This is the first time we have been able to ban, potentially, a group which falls short of a terrorist listing,” Burke told the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the royal commission would determine whether more could have been done to stop the terror attack, but that both his government and the commission would continue to work on improving social cohesion.
The peak Palestinian advocacy group in Australia is calling for Burke to deny Yehezkeli a visa.
Burke has previously declined the visa applications of current and former Israeli politicians who have made divisive statements about the war in Gaza.
In an Israeli television appearance in December 2023, Yehezkeli said the Israel Defence Forces should have started the war in Gaza by killing 100,000 Gazans.
“In my opinion, the IDF should have launched a more fatal attack, with 100,000 killed in the beginning,” he said.
At the time, about 20,000 Palestinians were estimated to have been killed in Gaza.
Pressed by his fellow panellists on whether he wanted to see non-combatants killed, Yehezkeli said: “I don’t know who was or wasn’t involved, and who is and isn’t innocent.”
The prominent commentator said a more forceful response to the October 7, 2023, attacks that killed an estimated 1200 people in Israel would have helped to achieve a ceasefire and hostage release on Israel’s terms.
“I’m talking about a military attack; you need to be more fatal than the attack we saw,” he said.
He later defended the comments in a subsequent interview.
Hamas, the militant group that launched the October 7 terror, was estimated to have had about 20,000 fighters before the 2023 attacks.
French-Israeli human rights lawyer Omer Shatz accused Yehezkeli of “publicly and directly [inciting] others to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza” in a submission to the International Criminal Court.
Yehezkeli has been listed as a speaker at mental health fundraising events in Melbourne on March 9 and Sydney on March 11 run by Israeli non-profit group the Institute for Social Momentum.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said Yehezkeli’s comments were even “more sickening and egregious” than remarks that had sparked calls for Israeli President Isaac Herzog to be uninvited from travelling to Australia after the Bondi Beach massacre.
“Australia must not welcome Israelis who openly advocate for genocide,” he said. “Minister Burke must deny his visa.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said: “Due to privacy reasons, the department cannot comment on individual cases.”
Yehezkeli was contacted for comment.
Referring to Yehezkeli’s 2023 call for 100,000 casualties in Gaza, Mashni said: “Heartbreakingly, he got his wish, as the official death toll continues to be revised higher and higher.”
A study by The Lancet medical journal found that 75,200 Gazans were killed between October 2023 and January 2025, higher than the 49,090 registered by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
In a March 2024 interview, Yehezkeli said: “In order to destroy Hamas and its capabilities, you need to take measures, just like in the northern Gaza Strip, to destroy all the capabilities in general. You need to bring Gaza to the point of a humanitarian disaster.”
In August 2025, Yehezkeli applauded an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Yunis that led to the death of Reuters photographer Hussam al-Masri, Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammad Salameh, two freelance photojournalists – Mariam Dagga and Moaz Abu Taha – and journalist Ahmed Abu Aziz. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he regretted the strike, calling it a “tragic mishap”.
“If Israel has decided to eliminate the journalists, better late than never,” Yehezkeli said on an evening news broadcast, describing them as “Nukhba terrorists in every sense”, a reference to Hamas’ elite fighting squad, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Yehezkeli later released a video claiming his commentary had been misunderstood.
“Everyone knows that a journalist in Gaza cannot be a free journalist and is subordinate to Hamas. I certainly did not call for killing journalists, only those who use ‘press’ credentials as cover to fight, which makes them terrorists in every respect,” he said.
In January, Burke cancelled the visa of Sammy Yahood, a Jewish social media influencer who called for the ban of Islam and was booked to speak in Australia, saying that “spreading hatred is not a good reason to come”.
In 2024, Burke denied a visa to former Israeli cabinet minister Ayelet Shaked on the grounds that she would undermine social cohesion, sparking a diplomatic dispute with Israel.
Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.