Chris Sidoti

It’s not too late for Anthony Albanese to withdraw the invitation to the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog. It should be withdrawn for three reasons.

The first is institutional. The president of Israel is a constitutional role that is head of state but not part of the political or military chain of command. The office is similar to that of Australia’s governor general, though with somewhat more power. As head of state, the president embodies and represents the state of Israel.

The international court of justice has found that Israel unlawfully occupies the Palestinian territories, has unlawfully purported to annex parts of the Palestinian territories and unlawfully plants, encourages and maintains unlawful settlements in Palestinian territories. The court is also trying a case in which Israel is accused of genocide.

The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants against the Israeli prime minister and former defence minister, citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The same court is investigating other senior Israeli military and political leaders on similar charges. The UN commission of inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory has found evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal intent by Israeli leaders and recommended their prosecution. Israel is a rogue state whose head of state, its supreme representative, should not be permitted to visit Australia.

The second reason is about Herzog himself. The commission of inquiry has found that Herzog has incited genocide. Herzog made the statement that all Palestinians, “an entire nation”, are responsible for the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. The commission found that, because as president he is not part of the political or military chain of command, he was not responsible for war crimes or crimes against humanity. But the crime of incitement to genocide stands outside the chain of command. It can be committed by any individual. The commission recommended that he be investigated and prosecuted by the international criminal court.

Herzog denies this and has qualified his statement, saying “there are many, many innocent Palestinians who don’t agree” with the actions of Hamas. But the UN commission said it viewed that as an effort “to deflect responsibility for the initial statement”. He has been a vocal head of state and his words have been taken and repeated by Israeli soldiers. Someone who incites genocide does not satisfy the good character test for entering Australia. On the contrary, a person who incites genocide should be arrested on arrival and tried under Australian law and international law for the crime.

Traditionally, a head of state has a special immunity when visiting another country. However, there is now strong legal argument that this immunity does not apply in relation to atrocity crimes, namely war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Australia should not apply immunity in relation to these crimes.

Israel’s foreign ministry has previously rejected the commission’s report as “distorted and false”, and Herzog has said his comments have been taken out of context, noting he also said Israeli soldiers would follow international law.

The third reason for withdrawing the invitation relates to us, Australia, and our current situation. The Hanukah massacre on 14 December has shaken us all. It was an atrocity. Immediately political leaders across the spectrum expressed concerns for “social cohesion”. They said steps were needed to restore social cohesion and called for national unity at a time of crisis. Eventually a royal commission was appointed for this purpose. And yet it’s hard to imagine a single event at this point in time more likely to harden national division and undermine social cohesion than a visit by the Israeli president. It could be the most divisive state visit to Australia since that of US president Lyndon B Johnson in October 1966 when the Vietnam war was at its height and Australian soldiers were being killed.

What was the prime minister thinking when he invited Herzog? In the days after the massacre, he no doubt thought inviting Herzog was a good way to express support for the traumatised Jewish community. But Herzog is a political leader, not a religious leader. He is divisive in Israel and his visit could be divisive in Australia. If the prime minister wanted to support the Jewish community, he would have done better to invite a respected Jewish religious leader.

For reasons of law, ethics and social cohesion, this divisive political visit should be stopped. The prime minister is widely acclaimed for his willingness to recognise mistakes and change course before it’s too late. He should recognise that he made a terrible mistake, in the emotional, traumatic days after the massacre, in inviting Herzog to visit. It’s not too late to correct the mistake.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/05/albanese-can-still-withdraw-the-invitation-to-israels-president-he-should-do-so-for-the-sake-of-social-cohesion-ntwnfb

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 19

Peter Hartcher

Political and international editor [SMH]

With the sound and fury that already is accompanying the visit to Australia by Isaac Herzog, we should know who he is. But, first, who he is not.

Herzog is the president of Israel, not the prime minister. So he’s the head of state, not the head of government. His position is mostly symbolic and constitutional, not substantive or executive. He formerly led Israel’s Labor Party, so he was no friend of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

In his current apolitical post, he’s supposed to represent all Israelis, not a political party. He’s elected in a secret ballot by all members of parliament, the Knesset, and he is not appointed by the prime minister.

If he has any power, the president has the “soft power” of symbolising a nation rather than ruling it. He does have one rather pointed power, however. The power to grant pardons to criminals. This makes him of special interest to Netanyahu.

Bibi, as Netanyahu commonly is known, is on trial over three distinct cases before the Israeli courts, charged with fraud, breach of trust and receiving bribes. Even as he serves as prime minister.

In November, Netanyahu appealed to Herzog for a pardon. And how’s this for chutzpah? He asked for a pre-emptive pardon, before he’s forced to give testimony in court. He wants impunity for breaking the law and immunity for even having to explain himself.

US President Donald Trump blundered into the middle of this delicate matter to tell Herzog publicly that he should agree to pardon Netanyahu. Herzog has been scrupulously non-committal and has said only that he’ll give the request careful consideration.

Another part of an Israeli president’s job is to cultivate the country’s ties with Jewish people everywhere. Which brings him to Australia. The first wrenching news of the Bondi terrorist murders made his heart miss a beat, he says: “I’m coming to visit and see my brothers and sisters of the Jewish communities in Australia to express our bond, our connection, our love, our affection, our condolences and I think it is something which is very important to a community which has been harassed and devastated by this terrible, terrible attack and by the ongoing onslaught of antisemitism against the community all over Australia,” he says in an interview with my colleague Matthew Knott and me.

And he wants to take the opportunity to explain Israel’s position and “upgrade the relations to where it should be” between two democratic nations. “The Australian people are incredible friends. We co-operate with them in so many fields of doing good. We can contribute together to the world positively from climate to water to agriculture to science, so let’s do that together.”

He points out that Australia was present at the creation of Israel both on the battlefield and in the UN: “Little do Australians remember but Australians who liberated our land in 1917 and liberated Beersheba, Abraham’s city, and our forefather. And it, I think it was almost a God-given moment in history. And later, Australia was the first nation to recognise the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine of those days in 1947.”

He pays tribute to “the legendary” Australian Labor external affairs minister, Doc Evatt, whose work at the UN helped midwife the Jewish state.

Herzog has many friends and connections in Australia, including a long-standing relationship with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. When he was in politics, Herzog chaired the Israel-Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group. It’s partly a family affair. His visit, which starts in Sydney on Monday, will be the fourth state visit by an Israeli president.

The first was by his father, Chaim, 40 years ago. “Then-prime minister Bob Hawke and the governor-general [Sir Ninian Stephen] hosted him and my mother beautifully,” Herzog says, “and I hope to revisit that experience.”

READ MORE DRIVEL: 

https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/we-have-a-choice-with-herzog-visit-futile-fury-or-solemn-solidarity-20260206-p5o09h.html

YES PETER HARTCHER, YOU KNOW THE GUY... GOOD FOR YOU... NO MATTER WHO HE IS OR NOT, HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL — A COUNTRY THAT IS KILLING PEOPLE INDISCRIMINATELY, NEARLY 1,000 SINCE THE CEASE FIRE...

PETER, WHAT YOU DEMAND IS TO ACCEPT THAT WHATIZNAME IS A-POLITICAL AND DOES NOT SUPPORT THE GENOCIDE. PULL THE OTHER LEG.

TO THE CONTRARY, HE SHOULD RESIGN HIS PRESIDENCY FORTHWITH...  HE SHOULD DO THIS BEFORE LANDING ON THESE HYPOCRITICAL SHORES....

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 19

While the world has focussed on the atrocities in Gaza, Israel continues its support of illegal settlements, hostility and apartheid in the West Bank. Ben Bohane reports from Bethlehem.

We are no more than 5 minutes out of Bethlehem on a crisp December morning when my  Palestinian driver – let’s call him Ahmed – stops and points to a curl of smoke rising in the valley below, near Beit Jala.

“That’s a local restaurant the Israeli’s are burning since last night. They demand permits even when it is on family land. Israel then gives demolition orders, and no one can stop them.”

It’s the day before Christmas. I’m in the West Bank and Israel for a month to see the situation for myself, to try and understand how this comparatively small area continues to hijack history and our news agenda. Gaza remains off-limits to all foreign media attempting to report on Israel’s genocide there, so I can’t go.

The international Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) states 249 media personnel have been killed so far by Israel in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Israel and Iran since the Gaza war began.

Israel has killed more journalists in the past three years than any other government in history,

assassinating more than all media personnel killed in all the wars of the 20th century combined.

Israel has also now banned many reputable international NGOs from operating there. In late January, the IDF finally acknowledged the death toll tally compiled by Palestinian health authorities as accurate, saying it believed 71,000 people had been killed so far.

I’ve come to the other front, the West Bank, as Israeli settlers and the IDF establish new illegal settlements and make life difficult for Palestinians just trying to eke out a living.

While I’m there, Israel announces 19 new settlements, bringing to 69 the number of new settlements approved in the past few years.

They are slowly circling and strangling Palestinian towns by taking the high ground on hilltops, establishing their own roads to link up with other settlements, and destroying ancient olive groves which locals have long relied on for a meagre income. Some of these trees are many hundreds of years old, and their desecration seems somehow symbolic of Israel’s attempts to change history and geography.

“We are trapped here”, says Ahmed. “Ever since October 7, Israel has closed off our access to Jerusalem and the rest of Israel. A lot of businesses are struggling to survive after 5 years of shutdowns – first it was Covid, and then the Gaza war. No tourists for years.”

Unless they are employed in one of a handful of jobs, such as in hospitals or working for a Christian organisation, Palestinians in the West Bank can’t leave. Denied both Palestinian statehood and Israeli citizenship,

West Bank Palestinians are caught in a limbo where they can’t travel into wider Israel or beyond.

“Israel controls all our movements, all our water, and controls our petrol supply”, says Ahmed. “The only thing they don’t control is the air we breathe, and if they could control that, they would.”

We visit a home recently bulldozed by settlers and fields uprooted because they were considered too close to the expanding nearby Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit. As locals lose access to their olive orchards, the only trees safe are those within towns or around their homes. I see a young boy with a wheelbarrow full of seedlings and uprooted olive saplings moving towards a nearby field. Ahmed translates:

“The boy says that part of their resistance is to immediately replant the olive trees when settlers chop them down. The olives aren’t just an income for us, they are part of our identity on this land.”

We have to be quick when visiting the contested edges of these towns and fields, as settlers are always watching from nearby hilltops and the IDF can be on scene in less than 5 minutes. On two occasions, my driver yells to get us back in the car for a hurried exit when he spots settlers driving down to intercept us.

Returning to Bethlehem, the annual Christmas parade is underway. Hundreds of Palestinian, Arab and Armenian Christians in uniforms march along roads leading to Manger Square in the heart of Bethlehem. Palestinian Authority police guard the route and Churches, including the Orthodox Basilica of the Nativity, first begun by Emperor Constantine’s Christian mother, Saint Helena, in the 4th century. Under this Byzantine church is a grotto where Jesus was supposedly born.

This is the first time in two years that Christmas celebrations, including a huge Christmas tree, have taken place. With few foreign tourists, shops in Bethlehem are happy to see many Muslim families from across the West Bank visiting with children to see Santa and the holy sites. It’s a peaceful time with Christian and Muslim families celebrating together.

I met Father Issa Thaljieh, a Palestinian (Greek Orthodox) priest overseeing the Basilica. ‘Issa’ is the Muslim name for Jesus. He says the number of Christians continues to dwindle, from 10% of the Palestinian population during the British mandate period 100 years ago, to around 1% today. Most live overseas now, with Israel incentivising their departure.

One thing I hadn’t known until I came here is that Israelis are forbidden from entering any West Bank towns. At the entrance to many towns I visited, including Jericho and Bethlehem, are large road signs in red warning Israeli citizens not to enter.

Although usually framed as a security measure to prevent kidnapping, it has the additional impact of preventing ordinary Israelis and Palestinians from mixing together and stops Israelis from really understanding what is going on across the West Bank. It underlined the sense of apartheid, along with the long winding separation wall that snakes between Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the rest of the West Bank.

Always interested in art and graffiti as forms of resistance, I cruise a length of the wall, near two refugee camps inside Bethlehem and come across artist Banksy’s ‘Walled Off’ hotel, which had only reopened the week before after 5 years of closure. Upstairs is a gallery supporting local artists, downstairs a museum about the wall and ‘occupation’, along with a chintzy piano bar styled like a frontier saloon.

The hotel faces a section of the wall emblazoned with graffiti and promises ‘the worst views in the world’. The wall began construction substantially in 2002, runs for 810kms and is Israel’s biggest infrastructure project. Banksy’s museum quotes the man put in charge of the build, Danny Tirza:

“The main thing the government told me in giving me the job was,

to include as many Israelis inside the fence and leave as many Palestinians outside as possible.

Down the road, a number of local stores have popped up selling cheap Banksy merch, and apparently, Banksy is fine with all the rip-offs.

Other days are spent visiting Jericho and Hebron with its shrine containing the tomb of Abraham, patriarch of all the monotheistic faiths.

It is a town often at flashpoint between Palestinians and hardcore Israeli settlers who have moved right into pockets of the town, protected by IDF soldiers. A day trip to Ramallah is aborted when my driver says that Israeli forces had entered that morning to destroy dozens of shops and shot two people.

“It’s too dangerous today to visit, and besides, it would take us 5 hours to get through the checkpoints instead of one hour as normal”, he says.

Every day across the West Bank, Palestinians must navigate security challenges, declining business and hungry families. Given the impunity with which Israel operates in Gaza, Palestinians across the West Bank are still standing their ground, but without much hope that the international community will stop Israel’s encroachment.

Netanyahu’s government wants to extinguish any hope of a two-state solution, but Palestinians will not cede their homes – or their olive trees – easily.

https://michaelwest.com.au/the-west-bank-israels-atrocities-in-clear-sight-but-out-of-mind/

IT IS TIME FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA TO CONDEMN THE JEWISH AGGRESSION AGAINST PALESTINIANS.... IT IS TIME TO LET THE VISITING FIGUREHEAD, THE ISRAELI PRESIDENT — DUPLICITOUS HERZOG — KNOW THE SOURCE OF ANTISEMITISM AROUND THE WORLD...

GENOCIDE, EVEN IN SMALL NUMBER COMPARED TO THE HOLOCAUST, IS STILL MURDER OF A PEOPLE BY WHATEVER MEANS.... HERZOG SHOULD BE ASHAMED. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY, EVEN IN SORROW, SHOULD BE ASHAMED...

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

OUR HEARTS BLEED FOR ALL THE FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY THE TRAGIC ACT OF TERRORISM AT BONDI.
THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA DESERVE AS MUCH PEACE AS ALL THE PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD.

AND WE MEAN IT.