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November 22, 2024
Right-wing former Israeli government minister Ayelet Shaked has been denied a visa to come to Australia on character grounds in a fresh blow to the Albanese government’s relationship with the Jewish state.
The former interior and justice minister, who was due to attend a security conference in Canberra next week, was told by Home Affairs late on Thursday that her application for a visitor visa had been refused because she could “vilify” Australians or “incite discord”.
The department said that “after careful consideration … a delegate of the minister decided to refuse to grant you a visa”.
Ms Shaked blasted the rejection as “shameful”.
“This political decision of this government is nothing short of a hostile anti-Semitic act,” she told The Australian.
“Just last year, I was welcomed as a guest in this country. This decision is an affront to the Jewish community and a stain on the Australian government’s moral standing.
“It betrays the principles of friendship and solidarity that should bind democracies together.”
Ms Shaked was barred under sections of the Migration Act allowing the minister to refuse to grant a visa if 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”.
The visa ruling cannot be appealed. It came after Ms Shaked was given a visa to attend an Israeli women’s event in February 2023.
The government has been hardening its stance on Israel and its wars in Gaza and Lebanon, causing a growing diplomatic rift and a backlash from Jewish Australians.
Ms Shaked, a former New Right member in the Knesset and a prominent supporter of Israeli settlers in the Occupied West Bank, had applied for a subclass 600 visitor visa to take part in the Canberra-Jerusalem Strategic Dialogue.
The event is being hosted by the Australian/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council with defence and security think tank Strategic Analysis Australia. It’s understood another Israeli speaker, retired Major General Eitan Ben Eliahu, was granted a visa to attend the event.
Australian/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the decision to bar Ms Shaked was “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,” Dr Rubenstein said.
“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.”
He said the move appeared to be a “cynical attempt to appear even-handed” following visa refusals for some Palestinians from Gaza.
Comment was sought from Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said: “The Albanese government must explain why a former minister in a friendly government and someone they granted a visa to only two years ago is now such a threat they must be banned from Australia.”
Ms Shaked is an outspoken advocate for Israel in the international media, arguing strongly for its right to defend itself following the October 7 massacre.
She told Sky News in December last year: “From our perspective, the Hamas leadership should surrender or die. They are all dead men walking after what they did, after the massacre.”
In the same interview, she pointed to Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel that set off the war in the north. “They shoot missiles on our towns that we evacuate our citizens (from) the northern border,” she said.
“They need to be on the north of the Litani River. Either the international community will enforce the decision or we will have to take care of it.”
The visa refusal follows the government’s move to switch its position on key UN votes on Israel and demand ceasefires, stretching ties with Jerusalem and angering the Jewish community and its supporters.
