Wong defends Israeli president visit amid death threats
Kat Wong, Farid Farid and Zac de Silva |
The Israeli president’s visit to Australia will help comfort the Jewish community after the Bondi terror attack, government officials say, as a teenager who threatened to kill the leader faces strict conditions on his movements.
Isaac Herzog will touch down on Sunday for a five-day visit, meeting with federal politicians and victims of Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost three decades.
Darcy Tinning, 19, allegedly threatened to shoot the Israeli head of state with a pistol and kill US President Donald Trump in a post on X on January 19.
His threat to Mr Herzog included a violent remark referencing extinction, which federal prosecutors said constituted hate speech and risked inciting others with similar views.
A magistrate has ordered the Newtown teenager not to approach or contact Mr Herzog.
Former human rights commissioner Chris Sidoti suggested the Israeli leader should be arrested on arrival for inciting genocide against the Palestinian people.
“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,” he wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian.
But Foreign Minister Penny Wong defended the visit, saying Mr Herzog was being invited to honour the victims of the Bondi Beach massacre.
“President Herzog is being invited to Australia … to be with and provide support to Australia’s Jewish community in the wake of the worst on-shore terror attack and anti-Semitic attack that we have seen,” she told reporters in Canberra.
Pressed on whether the government had received any legal advice on Mr Herzog’s trip, Senator Wong said the government “always considers legal advice in relation to our obligations”.
Community tensions are running high in the lead-up to Mr Herzog’s visit, with protests planned in major capital cities.
Tinning was granted bail under certain conditions that bar him from contacting or approaching either president subjected to his alleged threats.
He is prohibited from leaving his home unless he is accompanied by his parents, with whom he lives.
Magistrate Daniel Covington acknowledged the charges were serious but said the 19-year-old had no history of violence or non-compliance.
The prosecutor noted the threat to Mr Herzog was made amid heightened tensions after the Bondi terror attack in December.
“Unacceptable risks exist which cannot be mitigated if the defendant is released in this climate of political unrest,” she said.
Tinning’s lawyer, Brendan Green, accepted his client’s comments were “completely inappropriate” and could result in significant jail time, but stressed they were not directed at any particular people or group.
The matter will return to court on April 7.
Thousands of Australians are expected to take to the streets in every capital city to protest against the visit, citing Mr Herzog’s culpability in Israel’s bombardment and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
NSW Labor backbencher Sarah Kaine is among those planning to attend in Sydney.
“Given that he has signed bombs that have targeted civilians and have killed Gaza’s children, I don’t think it’s appropriate,” she told AAP on Thursday.
“I understand that the Jewish community is grieving but there is a large population of Palestinians in Australia who are also grieving and this is traumatic for this man to be in our country.”
Mr Herzog has previously said Palestinians bore collective blame for Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, before later clarifying his remarks.
A United Nations Human Rights Council commission of inquiry in September found the statement might reasonably have been interpreted as inciting genocide.
AAP
