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 politician 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.