Herzog’s visit "a terrible cruelty"
February 5, 2026
For Palestinian Australians who have lost entire families in Gaza, the decision to welcome Israel’s president to Australia is not diplomatic neutrality but an act of profound cruelty. As deaths continue despite a ceasefire, questions of grief, justice and political accountability can no longer be avoided.
Australian citizens Ayman Qwaider and Shamikh Badra regard the Prime Minister’s invitation to President Herzog as ‘a terrible cruelty.’
Ayman explains, “For two and a half years, the genocide in Gaza has marked my everyday with loss. I stopped counting the dead long ago. Every branch of my family has lost someone. My four cousins have been killed. Does it matter? Are we allowed to mourn? I remember my loving sister Alaa, a mother and teacher killed alongside her three children, her husband and all members of his family. Even in death they were accorded no dignity. My father was unable to bury his daughter. Her grave, alongside 300 others was bulldozed in the Tuffah neighborhood.”
Shamikh says, “The cruelty experienced by my parents is lifelong. My father was orphaned in the 1948 Nakba. Last year I tried to arrange humanitarian visas for them to escape Gaza. They were forbidden to cross into Egypt. Without sufficient water, food or medicine my father became weak and seriously ill. He died on 27 December, 2023. My frail mother lived alone until her Gaza home was bombed. That destruction was followed by the Israeli army killing my brother, a physiotherapist, his wife a doctor, four children and his doctor father-in-law. My family were professional people. They believed in humanity. They saved lives. They were killed. They lie somewhere under the rubble of what’s left of their home.’
Ayman and Shamikh empathise with the Australians who are grieving over the deaths of loved family members murdered in the atrocity of the Bondi shootings. “We understand deep feelings of loss but the invitation to Herzog is completely one sided.”
This ‘one sided’ comment acknowledges the outrage experienced following the murder of 15 citizens on Bondi, but that the Australian public and every politician should recall that seven times the number killed in Bondi have been killed every day in Gaza for the last two years.
Presented with these figures, Ayman and Shamikh ask, “Who cares? Does the Australian government mean that the slaughter of tens of thousands of our people is of little consequence?”
These Australians are not alone in their views.
The Australian Centre for International Justice (ICIJ) has requested the Australian Federal Police to investigate the Israeli President for incitement to genocide. The ICIJ observes that at a time when the Federal government is criminalising hate speech, they invite a person alleged to have incited hate to commit genocide.
Amnesty International stresses that Australia has an obligation to end impunity for grave violations of human rights, such as those committed by President Herzog.
The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) says, ‘This is not a moment to host the head of a state which has been found to have committed a genocide in Gaza.’
Labor Friends of Palestine has asked Tony Burke the Minister for Home Affairs to refuse to grant a visa to Herzog.
Michael West Media (MWM) reveals that the invitation to the President of Israel was issued by the Zionist Federation of Australia who asked Herzog to ‘stand with a grieving nation’, to come to Australia to express ‘solidarity and healing.’
That raises the question, who runs Australia – the government or an influential lobby?
On 31 January, to add to the estimated 450 Palestinians killed since a ceasefire was signed, 35 more Palestinians were killed. The Australian government appears to raise no objections. As long as the killers are Israeli forces instructed by the government of a country whose President is Isaac Herzog, more slaughter does not matter. Impunity rules.
In response to the loss of most of their relatives and friends, Ayman and Shamikh say, “The brutality in Gaza and the West Bank has been thrown in our face. The government supports the Zionist Federation’s invitation to President Herzog but shows little concern for starved, imprisoned, tortured and slaughtered Palestinians.”
‘To us, Herzog being welcomed feels like another terrible cruelty.’
Australian citizens Shamikh Badra and Ayman Qwaider are human rights campaigners who hold postgraduate degrees and are former residents of Gaza. Stuart Rees is Professor Emeritus, University of Sydney.
For those who are interested, there is an official Parliamentary Petition against Herzog coming here.
