Protests planned as Herzog's upcoming visit to Australia prompts anti-Israel outcry

President set to meet with Australian PM and families of Bondi terror attack victims, as anti-Israel groups, including progressive Jewish group, call for his arrest

JTA — President Isaac Herzog’s planned visit to Australia this weekend, which was scheduled in the wake of the Bondi massacre in December, has drawn widespread opposition and organized protests, including from some Jews.

Following Herzog’s invitation to visit the country by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, some Labor Party members and anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian groups called for the invitation to be rescinded.

Those calls have reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, with Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti calling on Albanese to rescind the invitation or arrest Herzog on arrival for inciting “genocide.”

Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, defended the visit in an interview with ABC radio, telling the station that it was the wishes of the Jewish community following the December terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney that killed 15.

“We have the Australian Jewish community, who have been targeted in an overtly antisemitic terrorist attack. We have had 15 Australians die, we have families mourning, and this was a request from the Jewish community for President Herzog to visit,” said Wong, herself a staunch critic of Israel.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald published Friday, Herzog called Sidoti’s statements “another lie and another distortion of the facts,” adding that he was visiting the country to “visit my sisters and brothers of the Jewish community to console and pay our respects to the grieving families and to the community.”

People lay tributes at the Bondi Pavilion in memory of the victims of a deadly terror shooting targeting a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, on December 15, 2025. (DAVID GRAY / AFP)

Herzog is expected to visit the country from Sunday to Thursday and is slated to meet with Albanese as well as the survivors and the families of the victims of the shooting.

Multiple groups have petitioned for Herzog’s possible arrest. On Thursday, Human Rights Watch cited a UN Commission of Inquiry report accusing Herzog and other Israeli leaders of “direct and public incitement to commit genocide” in calling on Albanese to consider deploying local laws to prosecute him.

The victims of the December 14, 2025, Sydney Hanukkah terror shooting: top row (left to right) – Reuven Morrison, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Dan Elkayam, Alex Kleytman, Rabbi Eli Schlanger; middle row (left to right) – Edith Brutman, Peter Meagher, Tibor Weitzen, Marika Pogany, Matilda [last name withheld]; bottom row (left to right) – Tania Tretiak, Boris Tetleroyd, Adam Smyth, Sofia and Boris Gurman. (Composite: Times of Israel; Images: Courtesy/social media, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

“While showing appropriate concern for the Jewish community, the Australian government should not shy away from denouncing and pushing for an end to the Israeli government’s longstanding serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,” the human rights NGO said.

The anti-Zionist Jewish Council of Australia lodged a legal complaint last week calling for Herzog to be “arrested or barred from entering Australia.”

The complaint, which was jointly filed with the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Australian National Imams Council, alleges that Herzog “incited genocide and aided and abetted war crimes, rendering him unfit to enter the country under Australian law.”

Israel denies accusations of war crimes, saying its military actions in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre, are targeted at terror groups, which it accuses of using the civilian population as human shields.

Widespread protests against Herzog’s visit have been planned throughout Australia by the Palestine Action Group, including in Sydney, where New South Wales Police have announced restrictions on protests, citing the behavior of some protesters who “continue to incite violence and cause fear and harm.”

Demonstrators take part in a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally against the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip during a protest in Sydney’s central business district on August 24, 2025. (Saeed KHAN / AFP)

New South Wales Police have deployed thousands of officers to ensure the mandate is upheld. They have also warned that they will arrest protesters who breach the restrictions in place.

While officials said during a press conference earlier in the week that there was “no particular known threat” to Herzog known by police, a 19-year-old Sydney man was granted bail on Thursday after he was charged with making online threats to Herzog.

The executive director of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, Colin Rubenstein, condemned the protest efforts as the group issued a rebuttal on Friday to claims against Herzog.

“We are disturbed and saddened by the groups and individuals determined to politicise this visit by labelling it ‘divisive’ and attempting to misrepresent Herzog’s words after October 7,” he said in a statement. “Our view is that, after Bondi, Herzog’s visit is not only appropriate, but an essential part of the healing process — and we are very confident we represent the overwhelming majority of Australian Jews in saying as much.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.