Israel’s president has touched down in Australia, with the high-profile visit set to be met with nationwide protests and demands for his arrest.
Isaac Herzog landed in Sydney early on Feb. 9 morning, after an invitation from the Albanese government following the anti-Semitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, 2025.
The Islamic State-inspired father-and-son gunmen killed 15 people and wounded more than 40 others.
Accompanied by his wife, Michal, Herzog was met at Sydney Airport by Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon.
Herzog will meet with politicians and Jewish community leaders, some of whom say the figurehead’s visit will bring great comfort.
But other groups oppose him setting foot on Australian soil, calling for federal police to investigate the Israeli president for alleged war crimes.
Rallies against Herzog’s visit are scheduled across the country, and an early morning legal challenge to New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns’ protest restrictions will be heard in Sydney’s Supreme Court. Ads condemning the Israeli president’s visit have also appeared in newspapers on Feb. 9.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, but Herzog is not and is granted customary immunity under international law as a visiting head of state.
The president’s role is largely ceremonial, but he has sparked outrage for being photographed signing an Israeli artillery shell.
Herzog later said the munition was a smokescreen rather than an explosive device, but described the signing as an error.
A United Nations inquiry found his comments after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023—in which he described Palestinians as an “entire nation out there that is responsible”—to reasonably be interpreted as incitement for genocide.
Israel has repeatedly denied allegations of genocide and Herzog subsequently clarified his remarks, which he said were taken out of context.
The Jewish Council of Australia launched a major advertising campaign on Feb. 9, printing a public letter condemning the visit that was signed by more than 1000 Jewish Australians.
“We refuse to let our collective grief be used to legitimise a leader whose rhetoric has been part of inciting a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and has contributed to the illegal annexation of the West Bank,” the council’s executive officer, Sarah Schwartz, said on Feb. 9.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said Herzog’s visit would “lift the spirits of a pained community”.
“We hope it will lead to a much-needed recalibration of bilateral relations between two historic allies,” he said.
But Judith Treanor, from Jews against the Occupation ‘48, said the visit told the world that “genocide is compatible with Jewish identity.”
“There are Jews who support Israel and Jews who don’t ... Herzog must be investigated, (he’s) not welcomed here,” she said.
Protest organisers Palestine Action Group have flagged an urgent NSW Supreme Court challenge on Feb. 9 after Premier Chris Minns formally declared the visit a major event.
The declaration granted police extra powers to block movements in the city centre.
“Instead of defending human rights, the NSW government is using emergency-style powers to shield a visiting head of state from public scrutiny and accountability,” spokesman Josh Lees said.
A last-minute court hearing arguing the powers are excessive, unjustified and unlawful is scheduled before Justice Robertson Wright on Feb. 9 morning—hours before the rally is due to take place.
Police have warned protesters they will be arrested if they breach public assembly restrictions put in place following the Bondi attack.
