Demonstrators also called out, "Israel no more, Israel is a terror state," "Liberation, liberation, Palestine is our nation," and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
MELBOURNE — Thousands of protesters gathered Monday in Malbourne to oppose Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia, chanting “Herzog out” and “Palestine will be free,” while pro-Palestinian groups announced plans for further demonstrations nationwide.
Protesters chanted slogans denouncing Herzog and Israel, including “Herzog is a terrorist,” “Globalise the Intifada,” and “There is only one solution: intifada revolution.”
Others called out, “Israel no more, Israel is a terror state,” “Liberation, liberation, Palestine is our nation,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Herzog was invited to Australia by the federal government after the attack in Bondi in December. The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said Herzog’s visit was intended to foster “a greater sense of unity”.
Herzog arrived in Australia on Sunday to begin an official visit. Authorities declared his visit a major event and deployed thousands of police to manage the crowds.
To cheers from the crowd, one organizer of the Melbourne protest said, “We mourn the people of Bondi, and we mourn the people of Gaza. Our government does not. We are not the hypocrites, they are.”
Senator Lidia Thorpe spoke at the protest, expressing solidarity both with the victims of the recent attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney and with Palestinians.
“I stand in solidarity with the victims in Bondi, but also with my Palestinian brothers and sisters, and that’s not antisemitic,” she said. “Why do our leaders stand with someone who signs bombs that kill innocent people?”
The protest in Melbourne is expected to continue throughout the day as part of a wider series of demonstrations across Australia coinciding with Herzog’s four-day visit, which began Monday and includes stops in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, as well as a visit to Bondi Beach.
Recently, there have been growing calls in Australia to rescind the invitation to the Israeli president.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) – and Herzog himself has backed Israel’s genocide.
In October 2023, Herzog said all Palestinians in Gaza were “unequivocally” responsible for the 7 October Palestinian resistance operation. “It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved,” he said in remarks that are widely accused of being genocidal in tone.
His comments, second in the list of statements made by senior Israeli officials, are included in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, which is before the International Court of Justice.
During a visit to Gaza in 2025, Herzog repeated the official Israeli claim that Israel was not responsible for starvation in Gaza.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year, he said expecting Israel to withdraw from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank was “not realistic at all. It doesn’t make sense” to Israeli settlers.
In late 2023, Herzog was pictured signing an Israeli artillery shell being prepared to be fired into Gaza, writing in Hebrew on the munition: “I rely on you.”
Despite the calls, Albanese welcomed Herzog’s visit.
Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti described Herzog’s visit as a “crazy idea.” In 2025, Sidoti was one of three UN-appointed experts on a Human Rights Council inquiry that reported that Herzog, Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had incited genocide in Gaza.
“This is one of the most divisive figures in the world. Bringing him to Australia will undermine social cohesion, it will not rebuild it,” Sidoti said. “It will increase division, it will not bring about national unity.”
The Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ), Al-Haq, and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said that they had written to “urgently alert” the AFP of their concerns “in light of serious and credible criminal allegations of incitement to genocide and advocating genocide” by Herzog during Israel’s “military onslaught” in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The groups included a 10-page submission detailing the accusations against Herzog as well as Australia’s obligations under international law and its own domestic law.
“Where credible international findings indicate incitement to genocide and where domestic accountability has not occurred, Australia has both the legal authority and responsibility to act,” Rawan Arraf, executive director at the ACIJ, said in a statement.
Arraf also said that the Australian government would be showing a “blatant disregard” for its international legal obligations “by allowing Herzog to enter Australia without an AFP investigation”.
“At a time when the federal government is criminalising hate speech, a person who is alleged to have incited hate to commit the ultimate crime — genocide — must not be allowed to enter Australian territory without facing accountability for these serious allegations,” Arraf said.
Shawan Jabarin, the general director of Al-Haq, noted that Herzog has said that there are “no uninvolved civilians in Gaza” and was the head of state as Israel killed 23,000 children and 1,000 babies “before their first birthday” in Gaza.
“Even the IVF clinic was bombed, destroying 4,000 human embryos and the hope of future life,” Jabarin added.
“We call on Australia to arrest, investigate and prosecute President Herzog.”
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) condemned the invitation, labelling it a “grave moral failure” that would further divide the community, and a “direct insult” to those who have protested Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Labor Friends of Palestine also sent a letter to the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, urging his department to refuse to grant the Israeli president a visa. The letter, signed by Peter Moss, Wendy Turner and Oliver van Ingen on behalf of rank-and-file Labor members, questioned whether Burke had, or would, apply the character test to his visa application.
Federal Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi earlier this month criticized the government for “welcoming the president of a state committing an ongoing genocide.”
Sophie Scamps, the member for Mackellar in northern Sydney, added her voice.
“For all of us after Bondi, the priority ought to be the safety and security of the Jewish community. Inviting a divisive figure, even a head of state, can only invite division and further risk,” she said in a statement.
Scamps continued: “Inviting a foreign head of state who has been found to have incited the commission of genocide risks deeply dividing the Australian community.”
“In the aftermath of the Bondi attack, this visit risks heightening tensions and deepening divisions, at a time when the Government’s priority should be fostering social cohesion, security and safety for Jewish Australians and for all communities.” — QNN
