Israeli President Isaac Herzog is set to arrive in Australia on Monday, facing two sharply contrasting receptions: a warm official welcome from the government and mass protests from activists who label him a war criminal.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese extended the invitation to Herzog as a gesture of solidarity with Jewish Australians following the Hanukkah festival attack near Sydney’s Bondi Beach, which claimed 15 lives, the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history.
In the weeks after the December 14 attack, the Albanese government has emphasized the importance of social cohesion.
But the decision to host Herzog, Israel’s head of state accused of genocide in Gaza, an allegation Israel denies, has sparked anger among many Australians and led some to call for his arrest.
“I really do understand the depth of feeling about this visit, the depth of feeling in the community about what we’ve seen in Gaza over the last two years… but this visit is about a mourning Jewish community, and I would ask Australians to recall that,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC Radio.
Australia, like many countries worldwide, remains sharply divided over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Protests are planned in up to 30 cities on Monday to mark Herzog’s visit, with the largest expected outside Sydney Town Hall, where authorities anticipate as many as 5,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Police have warned protesters they risk arrest if they leave the Town Hall square.
Josh Lees, organizer of the protest through the Palestinian Action Group, told Instagram followers: “We will be there in huge numbers for a peaceful protest to say Herzog is not welcome.”
Meanwhile, major Jewish organizations have welcomed Herzog’s visit and condemned the planned protests.
“President Herzog is a patriot and a person of dignity and compassion and holds an office that is above party politics,” said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which represents around 200 Jewish groups nationwide.
“He is a person who has sadly had to comfort families, police and first responders after terrorist attacks many times, and will know how to reassure and fortify our community in its darkest time.”
Herzog’s role and the UN inquiry
Herzog holds a largely ceremonial role as Israel’s president, separate from executive decision-making led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose campaign to destroy Hamas following the October 7 massacre resulted in over 70,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In September, an independent UN inquiry added Herzog to a list of officials accused of inciting genocide.
The report noted Herzog’s comments shortly after the Hamas attack, when he said “an entire nation” had been responsible. The commission concluded these remarks “may reasonably be interpreted as incitement to the Israeli security forces personnel to target the Palestinians in Gaza as a group as being collectively culpable.”
Herzog dismissed the UN inquiry as lacking legitimacy and has denied blaming all Palestinians for the attack.
Chris Sidoti, a former Australian human rights commissioner and one of the report’s authors, argued Australia has a legal and moral duty to detain Herzog, though he doubts it will happen.
“I feel quite confident that he would not even be attempting this trip if he had not received assurances from the Australian government that he would not be arrested,” Sidoti said.
The Australian Federal Police confirmed that Herzog enjoys diplomatic immunity. An Israeli official told CNN that assurances from Israel’s justice ministry ensured Herzog and his delegation would not face arrest during the visit.
Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency and former Israel Defense Forces general, is also part of Herzog’s entourage but does not have diplomatic immunity.
Legal complaints against Almog were filed with the AFP by four organizations, including the Australian Centre for International Justice and Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq.
Almog reportedly canceled a planned trip to South Africa over fears of arrest.
Community divisions in Australia
Ahead of his arrival, Herzog expressed his intent to confront “lies and false information” about Israel.
“It’s the time to get out of that brainwash campaign that has been going on within the Australian public for quite some time, both against the Jews and against Israelis,” he told The Australian newspaper.
Yet not all Australian Jews support Herzog’s visit. The Jewish Council of Australia criticized Albanese for using Jewish grief as a “political prop and diplomatic backdrop.”
Hosting Herzog, the group warned, “risks entrenching the dangerous and antisemitic conflation between Jewish identity and the actions of the Israeli state,” Sarah Schwartz, the council’s executive officer, said. “This does not make Jews safer. It does the opposite.”
The council plans to publish a full-page open letter in two major newspapers on Monday, signed by “hundreds of Jews,” declaring Herzog unwelcome.
Since the Bondi attack, the Jewish community has expressed concerns that the government has not done enough to curb antisemitism, which surged amid Israel’s retaliatory operations in Gaza.
Between 2023 and September 2025, over 3,700 “anti-Jewish incidents” were reported in Australia, including arson, car fires, and graffiti.
The government responded with stricter gun laws, tougher hate speech rules, and expanded powers for the home affairs minister to cancel visas. Amid pressure from political opponents, Albanese formally invited Herzog to visit, just over a month after the attacks.
Authorities spent the weekend negotiating with the Palestinian Action Group to move the protest away from Sydney Town Hall.
Sidoti criticized the government’s decision, “This is a visit that will have serious consequences for social cohesion in Australia… This mistake should have been corrected weeks ago. It’s still not too late to correct it, but it’s increasingly unlikely with every hour that passes, and that’s a grave pity.”
