Why Herzog’s visit is a bad idea for Australian Jews

This article is part of a debate. Read Lillian Kline's response: Why President Herzog's visit matters now

President Herzog’s upcoming visit to Australia is causing me genuine anxiety. After the summer that Australia’s Jewish community has just endured, his visit feels badly mistimed and, worse, likely to backfire spectacularly on the very people it is meant to honour and support.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has characterised the invitation to Israel’s head of state as an opportunity for the president to “engage with members of the Jewish community who are grieving the loss of 15 innocent lives”.

But the visit is already spurring protests focused on Israel’s conduct during the Gaza war, and on ongoing proceedings in international courts. Inevitably, it will focus attention on Israeli politics and conflate the issue of antisemitism in Australia with concerns about the Middle East: exactly the slippage that endangers our community. 

I’m also worried about the mental health of our community. We have just lived through a hellish summer. It began in the first week of the school holidays, when 15 people were murdered at Chanukah by the Sea in Bondi. So many of us knew people who were killed, and most of us are still processing the trauma of what happened. In the aftermath of Bondi, like so many Jewish families, all my hopeful summer plans were immediately interrupted with endless prayers for the injured, the exhausting fight to secure a royal commission, and vigil after vigil after vigil for the dead not to mention funerals.