Israeli President Herzog begins Australia trip at site of Bondi Beach attack

SYDNEY – Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Sydney on Feb 9 ahead of a multi-city trip aimed at expressing solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community, after a December shooting at a Hanukkah event that killed 15.

Mr Herzog is visiting Australia this week following an invitation from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the aftermath of the Dec 14 shooting at Bondi Beach, the worst such attack in decades that shocked the nation.

The visit has attracted the ire of some people in Australia, who accuse Mr Herzog of being complicit in civilian deaths in Gaza. Protests are planned across the country.

Mr Herzog on Feb 9 met survivors and the families of 15 people killed in the shooting during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.

“This was also an attack on all Australians. They attacked the values that our democracies treasure, the sanctity of human life, the freedom of religion, tolerance, dignity and respect,” Mr Herzog said in remarks at the site.

In a statement, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-Chief Executive Alex Ryvchin said Mr Herzog’s visit “will lift the spirits of a pained community.”

Some Jews oppose the visit.

The Jewish Council of Australia, a vocal critic of the Israeli government, released an open letter on Feb 9 signed by over 1,000 Jewish Australian academics and community leaders, urging Mr Albanese to rescind Mr Herzog’s invitation.

While the head of state seeks to console Australia’s Jewish community, his four-day trip has also sparked calls for pro-Palestinian protests in Sydney’s streets, where the authorities promised a large police presence.

Palestinian Action Group activists have organised a rally in central Sydney on Feb 9 to protest against Israel’s alleged “genocide” in Gaza and to demand Mr Herzog’s arrest for allegedly inciting genocide.

The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found in 2025 that Mr Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians – “an entire nation” – were responsible for the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

Israel has “categorically” rejected the inquiry’s report, describing it as “distorted and false” and calling for the body’s abolition.

Australia’s federal police have ruled out an arrest of the president, with senior officials telling lawmakers in Parliament that Mr Herzog had “full immunity” covering civil and criminal matters, including genocide.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said people had a right to protest, but he urged them to be respectful of the families of those killed in the Dec 14 armed assault on crowds at a celebration of Hanukkah.

Protests planned across Australia

Mr Herzog’s visit has drawn opposition from pro-Palestine groups, with protests planned in major cities, and the Palestine Action Group has launched a legal challenge in a Sydney court against restrictions placed on the expected demonstration.

“A national day of protest will be held today, calling for the arrest and investigation of Isaac Herzog, who has been found by the UN Commission of Inquiry to have incited genocide in Gaza,” the Palestine Action Group said in a statement.

The authorities in Sydney have declared Mr Herzog’s visit a major event and deployed thousands of police to manage the crowds.

Police have urged the protesters to gather at a central Sydney park for public safety reasons, but protest organisers said they plan to rally at the city’s historic Town Hall instead.

Police have been authorised to use rarely invoked powers during the visit, including the ability to separate and move crowds, restrict their entry to certain areas, direct people to leave and search vehicles.

“We’re hoping we won’t have to use any powers, because we’ve been liaising very closely with the protest organisers,” New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna told Nine News on Feb 9.

“Overall, it is all of the community that we want to keep safe ... we’ll be there in significant numbers just to make sure that the community is safe.”

About 3,000 police personnel will be deployed across Sydney.

‘Lives that were stolen’

“I along with President Herzog will meet families of those victims, those innocent lives that were stolen,” Mr Albanese told reporters at the weekend.

“They were husbands, fathers, daughters, sisters, friends, loved ones,” he added.

“In Australia, I think people want innocent lives to be protected, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian, but they want something else as well – they don’t want conflict brought here.”

On Feb 8, police said they would deploy an “extremely large” force for the pro-Palestinian rally.

Protest organisers had rejected a police request to move the demonstration from outside the city centre’s Town Hall to a nearby park because of concerns about the limited size of the venue, said New South Wales acting assistant commissioner Paul Dunstan.

But the activists nevertheless stressed to police that they wanted a “peaceful and safe protest”, he told a news conference.

The state authorities have declared the Sydney visit to be a “major event”, a designation that allows police to separate different groups to reduce the risk of confrontation.

Few other details have been released about Mr Herzog’s schedule, as is customary because of security concerns.

Anti-semitism

The Israeli head of state’s office has said he will “express solidarity and offer strength” when he visits bereaved families and Jewish communities across Australia while noting a “recent rise in anti-semitism in the country”.

Critics have accused Mr Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party government of moving too slowly to protect Jewish Australians despite a string of anti-semitic incidents since the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023.

The man accused of being the Bondi Beach shooter, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack.

An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.

His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.

Among the victims were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen, and a 10-year-old girl, Matilda, who was described at her funeral as a “ray of sunshine”.

Many Jewish Australians have welcomed Mr Herzog’s trip.

“His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community,” said Mr Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community’s peak body.

But some in the Jewish community disagreed, with the progressive Jewish Council of Australia saying he is not welcome because of his alleged role in the “ongoing destruction of Gaza”. AFP