Israel’s deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel is urging protesters to allow a “completely broken and shattered” Jewish community to come together, reminding them of the purpose of the Israeli president’s trip.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Canberra on Wednesday morning after two days in Sydney, after an invitation from the Albanese government following the Bondi terror attack, which targeted a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on 14 December.
While some members of the Jewish community welcomed his official visit, the head of state was met with nationwide protests, and footage has since circulated of violent clashes between police and demonstrators.
Haskel, who spent almost seven years living in Australia, said it was “really difficult” to watch the division during a visit intended to provide comfort to a community in mourning.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see that during these times, to hear and to see on live television those chants in Sydney, it’s quite difficult,” she told ABC Radio National Breakfast on Wednesday morning.
Haskel was asked about the impact of Herzog’s visit on the Palestinian community in Australia, who are mourning the death of loved ones as a result of Israel’s bombardment and blockade of Gaza — which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities.
“Look, a war is a war. It’s a terrible thing. There’s casualties and there’s death and destruction. We know that,” she said.
When pressed further about their distress, she acknowledged a right to protest but urged protesters not to “import the conflict in the Middle East to Australia”.
“There’s a red line that needs to be drawn with calls for violence, with calls for murder, you can go and protest in many ways, in many peaceful ways, in ways that respect other communities in Australia,” she said.
Haskel repeatedly took issue with the claims protesters chanted to “globalise the intifada”, which Jewish groups say incites violence and antisemitism towards Jewish people.
“These are no peaceful protesters. This is not about coexistence,” she said.
“It’s about celebrating death and destruction, about people trying to import the terrible conflict between radical Islamists and Western civilisation into Australia, and that’s what created and paved the way towards the Bondi massacre.”
The word “intifada” translates to “shaking off” in Arabic, and activists say the words are calls for Palestinian freedom and human rights, rather than violence or the destruction of Israel.
Haskel has previously spoken of her time serving in the Israel Defense Forces, during the Second Intifada, which was a period of uprising of Palestinians between 2000 and 2005 in the West Bank and Gaza aimed at ending Israeli occupation.
The NSW government is looking at banning the phrase, after a report in the wake of Bondi recommended it prohibit slogans that incite hatred.
While the committee acknowledged the term “intifada” was not exclusively used to incite violence, they argued that the context had changed during a broader rise in antisemitism.
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