Should Australia have denied a visa to Ayelet Shaked?

Former Israeli Minister of Interior and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked was scheduled to be in Australia last night to participate in a panel on the Middle East hosted by the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke denied Shaked a visa, without citing a reason but using the ministerial discretion which allows him to deny a visa on character grounds.

Was the denial justified?

YES
Jack Ginger

Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke recently cancelled the visa of Muslim American law professor Khaled Beydoun after he gave a lecture at a Sydney mosque in which he described October 7 as a “good day”.

He refused a visa to Candace Owens, a far-right commentator who denies aspects of the Holocaust.

The Jewish community overwhelmingly supported these actions.

But when the same Minister denied a visa to Israel far right settler and former minister Ayelet Shaked for similar reasons, many Jews could not see the analogies.

The Migration Act allows a minister to refuse an applicant whom he believes the applicant could “vilify a segment of the Australian community or incite discord in the Australian community or in a segment of that community”.

Shaked is on the record vilifying Palestinians in comments that are certainly racist and, in the context of growing Islamophobia and antisemitism in Australia, could reasonably be expected to incite discord.

In November 2023 she stated that all two million Palestinians living is Gaza should be removed and that the city of Khan Younis should be turned into a soccer field.

In 2014 she published a Facebook post describing Palestinian children as "little snakes". Arguing that the entire Palestinian nation as Israel’s enemies and calling for the murder of mothers whose children are terrorists and the destruction of their houses declaring, she wrote of Arab mothers “They need to go the way of their sons. There is nothing more true than that. They must go, same as the house in which they raised the snake. Otherwise, they will raise other little snakes there.”

Democracy is fragile and needs to be protected by its citizens and by the law. Its success is measured by the protection it offers to its minorities. Australia is a multicultural society and social cohesion is so very vital for the wellbeing of the community.

Perhaps the visa rejection will prompt Shaked to reflect on the damage caused by making such statements. Netanyahu and his far right coalition may have made such statements acceptable in Israel, but they are not welcome here. 

NO

Colin Rubenstein

Shaked was invited to Australia by AIJAC to participate in an all-Israeli panel on "Israel's challenges and opportunities in a new Middle East". AIJAC's Executive Director Colin Rubenstein did not respond to an invitation from The Jewish Independent to explain the organisation's reasons for inviting Shaked. He issued the statement below in response to the visa ban.

The decision to refuse a visa to former Israeli Justice and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked on the grounds that she would vilify Australians and incite discord among the community is a disgraceful act of hostility towards a democratic ally. 

It is extraordinary that a government that refuses to take any meaningful action against an Iranian ambassador who effectively calls for genocide would act so undiplomatically towards a friend. This will no doubt damage relations with Israel, a country from which Australia has received so many benefits.

We believe this is a cynical attempt to appear even-handed in the wake of some refusals of visas for Palestinians from Gaza who have concrete ties to, or evidence-based support for terrorism.

It is not the act of a responsible government, but further evidence of the loss of perspective and principle where the primary concern seems to be shoring up votes, since the horrific terrorist attacks of October 7.