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Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Haskel, is calling on demonstrators to allow a fractured Jewish community the opportunity to reunite, emphasizing the significance of the Israeli president’s current visit.
Following an invitation from the Albanese government, Israeli President Isaac Herzog touched down in Canberra on Wednesday morning, having spent two days in Sydney. This visit was prompted by a terror attack in Bondi that targeted a Jewish Hanukkah gathering on December 14.
Though his official visit was appreciated by segments of the Jewish community, it also sparked widespread protests. Videos showing clashes between police and protesters have since surfaced.
Having spent nearly seven years living in Australia, Haskel expressed her dismay at witnessing such discord during a visit meant to console a grieving community.
“It’s deeply unsettling to see and hear the protests in Sydney during this period,” she shared with ABC Radio National Breakfast on Wednesday morning. “Witnessing that on live television is indeed challenging.”
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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