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Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has told members of the Jewish community “when one Jew is hurt, all Jews feel their pain” as he begins a four-day visit to Australia to speak with survivors of the Bondi terror attack and the victims’ families.
Herzog, who arrived in Sydney on Monday morning, laid a wreath at the site of the antisemitic attack alongside the NSW premier, Chris Minns.
He also placed two stones from Jerusalem at a memorial outside the Bondi Pavilion, along with his wife, Michal Herzog. The president said placing stones on graves in the Jewish tradition represented “the endurance of memory, the weight of loss and the unbreakable bond between the living and those we have lost”.
“These stones … will remain here at Bondi for eternity in sacred memory of the victims and as a reminder that the bonds between good people of all faiths and all nations will continue to hold strong in the face of terror, violence and hatred,” Herzog told reporters.
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In a post on X, the Israeli embassy said the presidential couple were met by Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, after their plane touched down in Sydney on Monday.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) welcomed Herzog’s visit as a moment of profound significance.
The co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin, said Herzog’s visit would mean “a great deal” for survivors and families.
“His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community and, we hope, it will lead to a much-needed recalibration of bilateral relations between two historic allies,” he said.
Speaking at Bondi, Herzog paid tribute to “15 innocent souls who gathered to celebrate Hanukah, the festival of light, [and] were massacred in cold blood”.
He remembered “the youngest victim, sweet Mathilda, [who] was just 10 years old”, as well as 87-year-old Alex Kleytman, who “survived the extermination of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust only to be murdered for being a Jew on the beaches of Sydney”.
“In the aftermath of the attack, the people of Australia stood together in grief and solidarity with the Jewish community, the world’s only Jewish state, the state of Israel, and the nation of Israel stood together with the Australian people,” he said.
“We stood with Australian Jews for we are one big family, and when one Jew is hurt, all Jews feel their pain.”
Herzog said a rise in antisemitism around the world was “not a Jewish problem” but a “global emergency”.
He welcomed steps taken by the Australian government since the attack but, when asked if he shared the frustrations of the Jewish community about responses beforehand, said: “These frustrations were shared by many, many of us.”
The details of Herzog’s visit were tightly controlled. He was expected to address community events in Sydney before travelling to Canberra and Melbourne.
Israel’s government press office shared some information in a post on X on Monday morning. A spokesperson for Herzog said he would visit “Jewish communities across Australia to express solidarity and offer strength to the community in the aftermath of the [Bondi beach] attack”.
They said Herzog would meet the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, the governor general, Sam Mostyn, “as well as with leaders from across the political spectrum”.
Albanese invited Herzog after the 14 December antisemitic shooting, saying his visit was intended to foster a greater sense of unity.
Other members of Australia’s Jewish community signed a letter published on Monday saying the Israeli president was not welcome in Australia, taking out full-page ads in the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald newspapers.
“Welcoming [Herzog] in the aftermath of the Bondi massacre betrays Jewish communities, multicultural Australia and everyone who stands for Palestinian human rights and international law,” the letter, signed by more than 600 members of the Jewish community, read. The ads were organised by the Jewish Council of Australia, which has been a vocal critic of the Israeli government.
Some have called for Herzog’s arrest after a finding by a UN commission, which does not speak on behalf of the UN, that Herzog, along with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and then defence minister, Yoav Gallant, “have incited the commission of genocide”.
Herzog has called the genocide case against Israel in the international court of justice a “form of blood libel” and pushed back on criticism of his 2023 statement that “it is an entire nation out there that is responsible” for the 7 October attacks on Israel.
Asked what his message was to protesters, Herzog said on Monday: “It is important for me to say that I’ve come here in good will.”
“These demonstrations, in most cases, what you hear and see comes to undermine and delegitimise our right, my nation’s right, the nation which I am the head of state of, of its mere existence.”
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, called for calm on Monday, as a supreme court hearing was set to determine whether a “major event” designation would remain in place for a planned march by the Palestine Action Group against the visit.
The group planned to march from the town hall to state parliament on Monday evening, potentially breaching a public assembly restriction declaration extended by police last week.
Minns told reporters on Monday he did not want to “front run” the judgment, but rejected the idea that the government had invoked additional special event powers – allowing police move people on, close specific locations and conduct searches – in an attempt to curtail protests.
Minns, who advised of a “massive police operation”, including 500 officers in Sydney’s inner ring, and officers carrying rifles in “various areas”, said police continued to negotiate with protesters for them to march south from Hyde Park instead.
The premier said he was concerned about the division the visit had caused, saying “it doesn’t have to spill into conflict on Sydney streets”.
“I know that there’s disagreement about this visit, but I think it’s hugely important for the long-term unity of the city and the country, if there is disagreement, it’s done in a calm and respectful way,” he said.
