LATIKA M BOURKE: Israel’s President Isaac Herzog to visit Australia after anti-Semitic Bondi attack

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said he will travel to Australia for a State visit in the near future following the Bondi terror attack, after speaking with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday.

Mr Herzog said he told Mr Albanese of his “profound shock and dismay over the catastrophic terror attack” against the Australian Jewish community in Sydney last week.

“I conveyed my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and my prayers for a speedy recovery for all those injured,” President Herzog said in a statement.

“I also underscored the importance of taking all legal measures to combat the unprecedented rise in anti-Semitism, extremism, and jihadist terror.”

Mr Albanese is under pressure to mend his broken relationship with Australia’s Jewish community as well as with the Government of Israel, which is led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose global standing has fallen as a result of the war in Gaza, which started with Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

Mr Netanyahu and leading figures in his Government had directly blamed Mr Albanese and the decision of Australia to recognise Palestine, which does not currently exist, as a state at the UN General Assembly in September.

Mr Albanese last met President Herzog at the Pope’s inauguration shortly after his landslide re-election. But the Prime Minister kept their meeting secret until months later. Mr Albanese and his office gave no reason for why they did not disclose that they had met, as is customary when world leaders and dignitaries discuss issues relating to their bilateral relationship.

President Herzog’s role is largely ceremonial and the invitation for him to visit will be issued by Governor-General Sam Mostyn.

The Israeli President has also been urged to visit Australia to show solidarity with the Jewish community and pay his condolences.

Jeremy Leibler from the Australian Zionist Federation said that he had written to President Herzog in the days after the Bondi terror attack.

“Inviting him to come to Australia to stand with a grieving nation and a shaken community. I welcome today’s confirmation that the Australian Government will extend a formal invitation to visit in the new year,” he said.

“This matters deeply, not only for our community, but for what it says about Australia’s relationship with Israel, its values and its stand against hatred and terrorism.”

President Herzog foreshadowed his visit, speaking at a ceremony in Jerusalem marking one week since the Bondi attacks last Sunday night.

“I hope to be able to visit you all soon in Australia and bring you a message of love from the State of Israel, to hug you and console you on behalf of the nation and people of Israel. I know I will encounter great strength, warmth, and love of Israel from all of you,” he told the ceremony.

“I want to say to the Jews of Australia: the people of Israel are with you. Despite thousands of miles between us, we feel your pain, we see your courage under fire, we share your sense of abandonment, shock and horror.”

Mr Albanese confirmed the call in a statement on X that mirrored the one provided by President Herzog. He did not speak about the call at his news conference on Tuesday, in which he repeatedly rejected calls for a federal royal commission into the terror attack.

Mr Albanese, who created a royal commission within three months of first being elected into the former government’s Robodebt scheme, says holding one into the Bondi terror attack would take too long and that one was not held into the Port Arthur massacre or the Lindt Cafe siege when Liberal prime ministers were running the country.

The Jewish community, Opposition and some of Mr Albanese’s Labor MPs are all calling for a royal commission.