By Hilary Whiteman, CNN
Brisbane (CNN) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog will get two very different receptions when he arrives in Australia on Monday – a warm welcome by a government determined to show solidarity with its grieving Jewish community, and mass protests by activists who consider him a war criminal.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited Herzog to visit as a gesture of unity with Jewish Australians after 15 people were killed at a Hanukkah festival near Sydney’s Bondi Beach – the worst terror attack committed in the country.
In the weeks after the December 14 attack, the government has repeatedly pushed the need for social cohesion. However, Albanese’s decision to invite Herzog – the head of state of a country accused of genocide in Gaza, a claim Israel’s government denies – has angered many Australians and even led to calls for the visitor’s arrest.
“I really do understand the depth of feeling about this visit, the depth of feeling in the community about what we’ve seen in Gaza over the last two years… but this visit is about a mourning Jewish community, and I would ask Australians to recall that,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC Radio.
Like many nations across the world, Australia has experienced sharp divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza that have spilled into protests – with more planned in as many as 30 cities nationwide on Monday to mark Herzog’s visit.
The largest will be outside Sydney Town Hall, where up to 5,000 pro-Palestinian protesters are expected to gather, despite restrictions on protests in the area imposed after the Bondi massacre.
Police say the protesters risk arrest if they move beyond the Town Hall square. Protest organizer Josh Lees, from the Palestinian Action Group, says demonstrators will not be intimidated.
“We will be there in huge numbers for a peaceful protest to say Herzog is not welcome,” he said in a message posted to Instagram.
Major Jewish groups in Australia, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Australian Jewish Association, have welcomed Herzog’s visit and condemned the planned protests.
“President Herzog is a patriot and a person of dignity and compassion and holds an office that is above party politics,” said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive ECAJ, which represents some 200 Jewish groups around the country.
“He is a person who has sadly had to comfort families, police and first responders after terrorist attacks many times, and will know how to reassure and fortify our community in its darkest time.”
What the UN commission said about Herzog
As Israel’s head of state, Herzog occupies a largely ceremonial role removed from the executive decision-making led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose stated aim to destroy Hamas following the group’s October 7 massacre has resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in 2024 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Then last September, an independent UN inquiry found Netanyahu and Gallant – as well as Herzog – had “incited the commission of genocide.”
The inquiry commission pointed to comments Herzog made less than a week after Hamas militants Read more