EDITORIAL: Albanese should ensure his party welcomes visit of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Australia Day message was built around the theme of unity.

It struck the right tone and was exactly what the nation needed to hear in the aftermath of the massacre at Bondi Beach.

But within his own party’s ranks the unity he spoke of has not made it through the week.

Instead, the Labor Party is shaping up for a divisive stoush over the visit to Australia next month of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The Prime Minister invited Mr Herzog to the country late last year as a gesture of support and solidarity with the Jewish community following December’s Bondi terror attack in which 15 people were gunned down at a Hanukkah event.

Predictably, the trip has drawn criticism from pro-Palestinian activists. The Palestine Action Group has announced plans for a “national day of protest”.

On Thursday Mr Albanese’s Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly repeatedly declined to say whether Mr Herzog’s visit was “welcome” when asked on radio.

“Well, President Herzog was invited in the aftermath of the Bondi attacks, as is protocol and as is something that is usually done,” Dr Aly said.

“An invitation is extended where there is an attack where foreign individuals have been the targets.”

But a few hours later, Labor’s most senior Muslim issued a statement clarifying her tepid remarks.

“I understand the significance of the visit by President Herzog for the Australian Jewish community as we continue to honour the innocent victims of the anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Bondi,” she said.

“Our country needs to come together in unity, and I welcome anything that assists that process.”

Mr Albanese then went on to insist Mr Herzog’s visit would create unity. And added: “I note that Anne Aly has made appropriate comments.”

But the party has already started to tear itself in two over the issue.

Jewish Labor co-conveners Adam Slonim and Michael Borowick have called for support for the visit in an open letter to all party MPs in which they described Mr Herzog as a “bridge-builder”.

The rival Labor Friends of Palestine group urged the PM to rescind the invitation in a letter directed to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, arguing a legal and ethical basis to refuse Mr Herzog entry.

We need to remember that Mr Herzog is the President of the only democracy in the Middle East, and a nation that, despite all the odds stacked against it, is a diverse and thriving society.

Yes, it faces challenges in handling Gaza and the West Bank. But in debating those issues internally — including allowing open questioning of the government of the day — Israel is proving remarkably robust.

Mr Herzog has held senior posts in the Israeli Labor Party and in 2021 secured wide support in the presidential election.

We are not foolish enough to believe that the anti-Israel, anti-Jew activists will refrain from disrupting our cities again when Mr Herzog arrives.

But Mr Albanese should ensure his party is welcoming.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.