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November 5, 2024
Palestinian man not appropriate person to stay here, says Coalition The Coalition has questioned how a Palestinian man passed the character test to receive a visa from Australia, as Senate estimates heard the art institute he led in Gaza has shared dozens of "vile anti-Semitic" pictures on social media.
Home Affairs officials at the hearing on Monday declined to comment on individual cases when grilled about the status of artist Fayez Elhasani, who was the director-general of the Rawasi Palestine Institute before the war. Mr Elhasani came to Australia in July after 10 members of his family were killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza after the October 7 Hamas terror attack.
At the Senate hearing, Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson tabled examples of what he described as "vile" and "virulent" anti-Semitic images shared to the Instagram account of the Rawasi Institute in recent months.
Mr Paterson told the committee this included an image of rats with a Star of David, which was "clearly saying that Jewish people are rats", and another with a "devil" also wearing the same symbol shown "menacing what appears to be a Palestinian child".
"Other (images) depict militant fighters with weapons and glorifying them, praising them, for their acts of terror," he said.
"How is someone who founded and directs and art institute ... that has published the virulent anti-Semitic material, an appropriate person to come into our country and stay?" Senator Murray Watt, representing Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, said: "All visas for people coming from Palestine and occupied territories have been checked by ASIO, by the same personnel, and under the same processes that were in place under the former government."
The Rawasi Institute was founded in 2013 to develop Palestinian culture and art and present national "resistance" media, according to Israel's Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre.
Last month, News Corp revealed Mr Elhasani was granted a visa to Australia despite once hosting political members of Hamas and other terror organisations at his Gaza art institute, and having deceased brothers and sons linked to banned groups.
There are also pictures of Mr Elhasani associating with armed members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which is a listed terror organisation in Australia. Mr Elhasani was not a member of any of the organisations. The government has resisted pressure from the Coalition to review Mr Elhasani's visa status, with Mr Burke accusing the opposition of questioning the work of Australia's security agencies.
Mr Elhasani has previously told media he arrived in July in Sydney, where he is staying with his daughter. He has several deceased family members who were connected to terror groups in Palestine, including his brother, Iyad, the head of operations division of the PIJ.
