Visit Of Israel’s President To Australia Opposed

In the wake of the Bondi massacre, and as calls from many parts of the Australian community for a federal Royal Commission into the tragedy are being considered by the Prime Minister, eleven groups, nine of them Jewish, have written an open letter to the Governor General of Australia and the Prime Minister, urging them to rescind an invitation to Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit Australia at this time, citing comments by President Herzog urging collective punishment of the people of Gaza and his complicity with Israeli military aggression towards civilians.

Here’s the letter.

Jennifer Weinstein from Jewish Advocates for Understanding Antisemitism, one of the signatories to the letter, said:

“Herzog has publicly signed his name on artillery shells used to blow apart children in Gaza. He doesn’t represent all Jewish people in Australia. Facilitating this visit does nothing to support the healing of Jewish communities in Australia, following the horrific massacre in Bondi.”

Ohad Kozminsky of the Jewish Council of Australia, another signatory, said:

“Herzog’s government has been committing a genocide, and it has erroneously claimed to do so in the name of all Jewish people. His proposed visit in the wake of the Bondi massacre misleadingly and dangerously ties Israel’s actions to Jewish people as such. This racist conflation is rejected by many Australian Jews and it should be rejected by our government.”

By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

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