It is mind-boggling: The president of country A visits country B, a place in which citizens identified with country A were targeted and murdered in a horrendous terrorist attack that took place only two months prior. Yet, it is the visit that is deemed “controversial,” with some residents of country B even staging protests and condemning it in full-page newspaper ads.
In today’s sad reality, country A could only be Israel, and the president in this case can only be Isaac Herzog. Further, in this particular real-life scenario, country B is Australia, where, on December 14, an ISIS-inspired Islamic terrorist attack occurred at Bondi Beach in Sydney during a Hanukkah celebration.
Fifteen people were killed in the attack; most of the victims were members of Australia’s Jewish community.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had invited Herzog, who said the visit would contribute to social cohesion and a “greater sense of unity” after the slaughter at Bondi Beach.
Nevertheless, the visit attracted the venom of some people in Australia, including Jews, who accuse Herzog of being complicit in civilian deaths in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian groups organized protests in cities and towns across the country during Herzog’s visit this week.
Some of the demonstrations turned violent, resulting in police using pepper spray on demonstrators and further adding to the “controversy.”
Anti-Herzog Australian newspaper ads under fire for allegedly false, non-consensual signatures
In addition, the Jewish Council of Australia paid for two full-page newspaper advertisements in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, signed by alleged Jewish signatories condemning Herzog’s presence.
Titled “Jews say no! Over 1,000 Jews have said no to Herzog,” the ad states that “welcoming an alleged war criminal in the aftermath of the Bondi massacre betrays Jewish communities, multicultural Australia, and everyone who stands for Palestinian human rights and international law.”
However, as The Jerusalem Post’s Mathilda Heller reported on Monday, some of the names listed on the advertisement are not real people or are people who did not sign the letter, and instead of 1,000 signatories, fewer than 700 names appear on the list.
With such tumult, it would be easy for the visit by an Israeli president to descend to name-calling and petty politics. But thankfully, Israel has Herzog in that position, and amid the deafening static surrounding the visit, he’s put Israel’s best face forward and conducted himself with dignity and pride. He’s the president that Israel needs at such a sensitive time for the country and its relations to the outside world.
“The hatred that triggered the shooting at Bondi is the very same age-old plague of antisemitism endured by our parents and grandparents,” Herzog told the 4,000 people at the TikTok Entertainment Center during a solidarity with the Australian Jewish community and the Bondi victims event.
Referring to the deadly December massacre, Herzog said, “The horrors in Israel, empowered by jihadi extremism, reared their ugly head here as well... This is what it means to ‘globalize the intifada.’”
Herzog is scheduled to meet Albanese on Wednesday in a move perceived as part of an effort to place bilateral relations back on firmer footing after a period of strain in the ties between Israel and Australia.
The Post’s Herb Keinon, traveling with Herzog, reported from the president’s talk to an auditorium of Jewish students on Tuesday at Moriah War Memorial College, where he said that the protesters did not represent the views of most Australians.
“I believe that in the silent majority of Australians, there are many who definitely want to hear,” and to reinstate the ties between both countries back to what they once were.
Herzog rightfully deemed the protests as attempts “to undermine and delegitimize” Israel’s right to exist.
Treading into what could best be described as a minefield, Herzog is representing Israel with a balanced, reasoned approach that is both necessary and welcome. He has been regularly criticized by elements on both the Right and Left in Israel, but in essence, he is the perfect statesman for establishing a consensus among Diaspora Jewry at a time when Israel needs it more than ever.
As he laid a wreath at the site of the Bondi Beach mass shooting on Monday, Herzog said, “When one Jew is hurt, all Jews feel their pain.”
He was not only speaking a universal truth that has been lost amid the infighting among Jews both in Israel and abroad. But he also, in an understated and compassionate manner, reaffirmed Israel’s centrality in the Jewish world.