Who is Hillel Fuld and why has Australia denied him a visa?

American-Israeli technology entrepreneur and Israel advocate Hillel Fuld has been denied a visa to Australia on the grounds that he might incite hatred.

Fuld was scheduled to visit Australia in mid-June on a fundraising visit for Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross. He was due to speak to Magen David Adom fundraisers in Sydney and Melbourne, and to additional events at schools and synagogues.

The Department of Home Affairs wrote to him on Friday cancelling his visa on the grounds that he might use the platform to incite hatred “against particular segments of the community, namely the Islamic population”.

Fuld’s first claim to fame is as a technology business advisor, who provides marketing tips for growing a business or personal brands. But in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on October 7, Fuld shut down his multi-million-dollar tech consulting business to focus on pro-Israel advocacy.

Drawing on his expertise in online marketing and established tech networks, Fuld built a large following, with his social media content reaching millions.

Fuld’s views were shaped by the murder of his brother Ari Fuld, a right-wing American-Israeli activist, who was stabbed by a 17-year-old Palestinian in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

“He (Ari Fuld) had no tolerance for those using terms like "West Bank" or advocating for a Palestinian state. He would correct them, reminding them it was Judea and Samaria, and that such a state never existed… on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis, I ask myself, “What would Ari do?” and then I act on it,” Fuld wrote on Ynet earlier this year.

Fuld’s views mentioned by the Department of Home Affairs in their decision document, included statements he made in a January 6 post on X:

Gazans equal Germans in Nazi Germany: “Differentiating between Gazans and Hamas is at best inaccurate, at worst dishonest. The Gazans elected Hamas, and a vast majority of them support October 7. At the very least, they are comparable to the Germans in Nazi Germany, and should be treated as. No one debated the legitimacy of World War II by saying that there were innocent Germans in Germany. Evil needs to be uprooted completely and totally with no mercy.”

Palestinian children are not necessarily innocent: “Tragically, it is not safe to assume that all children in Gaza are innocent. Children are taught from age zero that murdering a Jew is the highest accomplishment in life, and so often times, Arab terror (including the murderer of my brother), is carried out by children. The same goes for women and “journalists” in Gaza.”

No such thing as Islamophobia: “According to all available data, 10% to 15% of the 1.8 billion Muslims in the world are radicalized. That’s hundreds of millions of people. So to call the fear of Islam, Islamophobia, when phobia is an irrational fear of something, is ridiculous.”

Anyone supporting intifada should be imprisoned: "Anyone calling to globalize the intifada or chanting from the river to the sea is directly calling for violence and the genocide of the Jewish people. Every single one of them should therefore be held accountable and put behind bars. The sooner, the better."

Additionally, Fuld uses his social media reach to regularly deny documented atrocities committed against Palestinians, calling them ‘lies’ and Hamas PR spins.

On Instagram on March 1, Fuld denied the massacre of Palestinian civilians at an aid distribution site in Gaza widely reported by news media including CNN, BBC, and Reuters,

In a recent Facebook post from June 5, Fuld claims that: “There is no such thing as “Jewish terror” or “Violent settlers”…. Jewish terror is not a thing. And neither is settler violence…The number of people who live there and are violent is statistically non-existent. Glad we cleared that up.”

This statement directly contradicts extensively documented evidence of regular systemic settler violence, from Israeli human rights organisations, and international bodies, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN, B’Tselem, Rabbis for Human Rights, Yesh Din, and others. 

In another recent Facebook post  from May 27, Fuld denies that Israel killed 9 children in an air strike, calling it, “fake news.”

According to the BBC, the pictures of the children’s bodies were verified as being authentic, and they further confirmed the report via two doctors, including Dr. Graeme Groom, a British surgeon who operated on the only surviving 11-year-old child.

Some Jewish Australians opposed to Fuld's positions campaigned for him to be denied entry into Australia, drawing a comparison between him and alt-right US commentator Candace Owens, who was refused a visa last year.

One member of the community wrote in a submission letter: “Minister, safeguarding Australia’s social fabric requires zero tolerance for public figures who abuse their platforms to dehumanise others and spread racial hatred. Allowing Mr Fuld to remain in or enter Australia would betray our commitment to human dignity, respect, and justice. I urge you to act decisively to ensure our national values are upheld.”

Letters submitted against Fuld alleged he had “a well-documented history of spreading hate speech, Islamophobia, and dangerous misinformation”.

His denial of documented atrocities against Palestinians are “part of a broader pattern of dehumanization and racism, which aligns with Australia’s strict stance against hate speech, as demonstrated by the previous ban on Candace Owens,” they said.

Magen David Adom chair Glynnis Lipson said the organisation was disappointed by the visa ban but would move ahead with the event with Fuld appearing by video link. She said more than 600 people were scheduled to attend the event to raise money for Magen David Adom.

"I've been following him for years". I think he's a great advocate for Israel. He's a great advocate for humanitarian work, and that's the reason we chose it, no other reason. Nothing about his tweets or anything," she told Sky News.

Fuld told JNS that he was shocked by the refusal of his visa “I was shaking, like physically shaking. I had to read this email five times,. I’m like, there is no way that the Australian government is banning some random dude for writing his opinion on Israel. There are no other words to describe it other than insane.”

The Opposition has questioned the visa denial asking the Minister to provide a detailed statement of reasons why Fuld was denied a visa.

"If there is a new political precedent in the standard for issuing entry visas to Australia, the Australian people should be informed as soon as possible," The Shadow Minister for Home Affairs Andrew Hastie said in a statement.