Aa
  • Read, Watch, Listen
  • TJI Series
  • Community Action
  • Events
  • Zedi
Follow us and continue the conversation
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • FaceBook
  • X
  • YouTube
Test yourself with the TJI Quiz!

Adjust size of text

Aa

Follow us and continue the conversation

  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • FaceBook
  • X
  • YouTube

Your saved articles

You haven't saved any articles

What are you looking for?

Original reporting, insightful analysis and diverse views, delivered straight to your inbox

  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • FaceBook
  • X
  • YouTube
Your support fuels our mission to inform, entertain and inspire.

The Jewish Independent is bound by the Standards of Practice of the Australian Press Council. If you believe the Standards may have been breached, you may approach The Jewish Independent or make a complaint to the Australian Press Council in writing at www.presscouncil.org.au. The Council may also be contacted on 1800 025 712.

  • Our Story
  • Contact us
  • Our Team
  • Support us
  • Guidelines
  • Pitch your idea
  • Republishing us
  • Community Action
  • Our Awards
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • FaceBook
  • X
  • YouTube
Aboriginal FlagTorres Strait Islanders Flag

The Jewish Independent acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and strive to honour their rich history of storytelling in our work and mission.

© The Jewish Independent 2026All Rights Reserved
Website design and development by Your Creative, MelbourneTerms & ConditionsPrivacy Policy
HomeRead, Watch, ListenAustralia
AnalysisAustraliaIsrael

Diplomatic flashpoint pits Australia against Israel

Attempts to bring a far-right Israeli politician to Australia have sparked a major diplomatic incident.
Michael Visontay
Print this
A man and a woman with visa stamps reading cancelled, rejected, Israel and Australia

MK Simcha Rothman (L) has been denied a visit to Australia and Israel has responded by cancelling the visa of Australia’s Representative, Occupied Palestinian Territories Bethany Randell (Photos Creative Commons, Graphic TJI)

Published: 19 August 2025

Last updated: 20 August 2025

The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) advocacy group has detonated a full-scale diplomatic feud between Israel and Australia over its thwarted plan to bring a divisive member of the Knesset to Australia for a speaking tour.

The rapid escalation of tension follows the Albanese government’s decision last week to recognise a Palestinian state, which prompted an angry response from the Israeli government.

The Australian government yesterday banned the inflammatory MK Simcha Rothman from visiting Australia. The Israeli government responded by revoking the visa of Australia’s representatives to the Palestinian Authority and threatening to withhold other Australian visas to Israel.

Home affairs minister Tony Burke said Rothman’s visa application had been rejected because of his divisive politics, and he would not be able to reapply for one to three years. Rothman was initially granted a visa but it was revoked by the minister shortly before he was due to leave for Australia.

“Our government takes a hard line on people who seek to come to our country and spread division,” Burke said. “If you are coming to Australia to spread a message of hate and division, we don’t want you here."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded immediately with a diplomatic counterstrike. “I have decided to revoke the visa of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority,” he said in a statement overnight. “I also instructed the Israeli embassy in Canberra to carefully examine any Australian visa application for entry to Israel.

“This follows Australia’s decisions to recognise a ‘Palestinian state’ and against the backdrop of Australia’s unjustified refusal to grant visas to a number of Israeli figures, including former minister Ayelet Shaked, and the Chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Simcha Rothman.”

Israel’s anger with the Albanese government was met with another strong rebuke by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who slammed Saar’s decision as another step in “isolating Israel” from other countries.

Rothman’s statements

Rothman has attracted widespread condemnation in recent months over his denial of starvation in Gaza, his defence of the mass displacement of Palestinians, and his criticism of Israeli media’s support for hostage families.

In May, when a British journalist put to Rothman that Palestinians were dying in Gaza because Israel had withheld aid, the MK flat out denied the suggestion. “They are not dying,” he replied categorically. In the same interview he labelled Palestinian children as “our enemies” and defended the mass displacement of Palestinians, saying if they did not leave Gaza, they were protecting a terrorist organisation.

Earlier this month Rothman angered hostages’ families when he said Israeli media outlets had made a “grave mistake” by airing terror groups’ videos of suffering Israeli hostages.

AJA cries antisemitism

The refusal of a visa to Rothman was perhaps predictable given the Australian government’s denial of a visa to former Israeli Minister of Interior and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked last year.

But the AJA, a far-right group that despite its name is not a representative community body, had arranged for Rothman to speak in Sydney and Melbourne next weekend to “share words of support for the Jewish community as well as providing an update from Israel,” according to a release.

The AJA went for the jugular in its response to the visa denial. “This is a viciously antisemitic move from a government that is obsessed with targeting the Jewish community and Israel. All the paperwork was filled out correctly and on time and the visa was approved,” its CEO Robert Gregory wrote on X.

“The timing of the cancellation at the last minute was spiteful and intended to cause maximum harm to the Australian Jewish community. Mr Rothman received his cancellation on the day he was to head to the airport for his flight.”

Jewish community response

While the ban is a major embarrassment to the AJA, it is hard to see how the decision has caused harm to the Jewish community. Nevertheless, the fallout has highlighted the depths of ill-feeling towards the Albanese government by pro-Israeli groups in Australia.

The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) is openly critical of Rothman’s views but also opposes the decision to ban him. “His comments on Gaza, the displacement of Palestinians, and on Israeli media’s support for hostage families are out of step with mainstream Israeli opinion and with the values of most Australian Jews,” ZFA President Jeremy Leibler told The Jewish Independent before the ban was announced.

“At a time of rising antisemitism and polarisation, we need voices that defend Israel with facts and empathy, not rhetoric that fuels division.”

But he criticised the ban on an elected member of the Israeli parliament. “It is one thing to disagree strongly with an elected representative of a democracy and ally, it is quite another to deny them entry on that basis. Australia ought not to set such a precedent.”

The Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) described the ban as "deeply troubling". CEO Colin Rubinstein said: "While some of [Rothman's] views undoubtedly may be controversial and contrary to those held by AIJAC, refusing him a visa sets a disturbing precedent for Australia’s treatment of a fellow democracy and long-standing friend."

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) not responded to requests for comment.

Israeli reaction

The ban on Rothman has sparked mixed reactions across the Israeli opposition ranks. Leading Opposition figure Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity Party, labelled it hypocritical. 

“MK Rothman and I have stark political and ideological differences — yet Australia’s decision to bar him from entry is not only deeply misguided, but blatantly hypocritical,” Gantz said. “If only Australia fought the ravaging antisemitism targeting its Jewish communities with the same fervour it banned representatives from the one and only democracy in the Middle East.”

But a member of the centrist opposition party Yesh Atid endorsed the ban and said Rothman was loathed by Israelis. “The people of Israel cannot stand Rothman, and… genuinely do not care whether Rothman — who is funded up to his neck with foreign money — enters Australia or not,” Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak wrote on X.

“It is also important to clarify to the world that politicians like Rothman absolutely do not represent Jewish and democratic Israel.”

You might also like
  • The Altalena should be a warning, not a political weapon
    Shahar Burla
  • Turkey emerges as military threat to Israel
    Dror Doron
  • No action to stop Hezbollah ally beaming antisemitic and anti-Israel content into Australia
    Michael Visontay
logomark.67a07ee3
We believe in the free flow of information

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, by using our Creative Commons licence

You might also like

    settler outpost west bank
    NewsIsrael

    Israel is cementing its control over the West Bank and East Jerusalem while the world is distracted

    Martin Kear
    Yoav Segalovitz Mansour Abbas
    Israel Votes 2026OpinionIsrael

    Because of my Zionist values, I’m joining an Arab party

    Yoav Segalovitz
    Protest
    AnalysisIsrael

    Western ‘Palestinianism’ colonises everything – and hurts Palestinians

    Andres Spokoiny 3

About the author

Michael Visontay

Michael Visontay

Michael Visontay is Commissioning Editor of TJI and was Editor-in-Chief from 2017-22. Michael is a former Assistant Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and columnist with The Australian Jewish News. He has written six books, including Who Gave You Permission? with Manny Waks, and Welcome to Wanderland: Western Sydney Wanderers and the Pride of the West. His most recent book is Noble Fragments: the Maverick who broke up the world's greatest book (Scribe, 2024).

More from the author

NewsAustralia

No action to stop Hezbollah ally beaming antisemitic and anti-Israel content into Australia

NewsAustralia

Beinart takes a wrecking ball to Israel

AnalysisAustralia

Prime minister’s absence exposes weakness in Royal Commission hearings

AnalysisAustralia

Zomi investigation delivers new low in Australia-Israel relations

Comments4

  • Avatar of strrretch

    strrretch19 August at 08:13 pm

    There we have it. An account of the situation from a Leftist perspective. Showing how to support a terrorist organization without openly supporting it.

  • Avatar of Steve Holstein

    Steve Holstein19 August at 09:25 am

    Bizarre times. More than 70% of Israelis loathe the corrupt and extremist government and have been calling for elections in the interests of national unity; more than 500,000 in the streets on Sunday’s general strike. In the midst of this, AJA invite Rothman, symbol of the far right Religious Zionist Party’s unprincipled attack on Israeli democracy (better labelled anti-Zionist Party). AJA then scream “antisemitism” when he is rejected.

    Moshe Radman, an Israeli protest leader and influencer with a big following, said: “We had the privilege of preparing …a comprehensive document in English detailing all of Rothman’s statements and actions in recent years. People like Rothman …should be considered repulsive everywhere, both in Israel and around the world….”

    So Australia’s Labor government stands with the vast majority of Israelis in confronting hatred, AJA screams antisemitism, Gaza starves, hostages and soldiers die and Netanyahu avoids the courts for another day. Over to AJA!!

  • Avatar of Ian

    Ian19 August at 08:27 am

    the pieces by Visontay and Oderberg raise uncomfortable questions about freedom of speech. Should narratives be controlled by authorities when they make us uncomfortable – even if that is their intent? Might public bans (of messages or messengers) give undue publicity to what is false and/or offensive, even hurtful? And, if a ban such as on Rothman’s physical presence puts messages into the ether, might that not be counter-productive?

  • Avatar of Joseph Silver

Joseph Silver19 August at 07:24 am

The ban is hardly a major embarrassment to the AJA who have succeeded in highlighting the gross hypocrisy of our vindictive Israelophobic Labor government and particularly its double speak. In response to Israel retaliating by revoking visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority Wong and Marles have said, “Look, this is a disappointing and unjustified reaction … This is a moment where we need to be promoting dialogue between our countries …”.

Simcha Rotman is a democratically elected member of the Israeli government, who was coming to Australia in part to engage with our leadership. So what Labor was saying about ‘promoting dialogue between our countries’ effectively amounts to a lot of hypocritical waffle.