Israeli politician to address Australian event virtually after visa cancelled

The group that organised speaking events for Israeli far-right politician Simcha Rothman says "the show will go on" and he will appear virtually in Australia after the Knesset member's visa was cancelled days before his scheduled visit.

In a social media post on Tuesday, the Australian Jewish Association declared that they would not "bow down" and Mr Rothman would address an event organised by the group via Zoom.

The politician, whose party is part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, was due to appear in person at events in Australia within days, including one in Sydney next Thursday.

But on Monday, the government confirmed his visa had been cancelled, as Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke warned he would not accept people coming to the country to spread division.

Hours later, the Israeli government declared that it would revoke the visas of Australia's representatives to the Palestinian Authority.

Relations between the Australian and Israeli governments have soured over past months, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's announcement that Australia would recognise Palestinian statehood in September eliciting a furious response from his counterpart.

Mr Rothman was originally scheduled to appear at "many Australian synagogues, schools and other Jewish organisations" as part of his speaking tour, according to the Australian Jewish Association. The group said it would now hold "one large communal event" where he would speak via video call.

"The Jewish community won't bow down to Tony Burke or Penny Wong," the group said in the post, under an image labelling it the "Simcha Rothman Solidarity Tour".

"The show will go on."

The group's chief executive, Robert Gregory, said in a separate statement posted to social media that the purpose of Mr Rothman's original visit was to "show solidarity with Australia's Jewish community", which he said was facing a "wave of anti-Semitism".

He said they had organised for the politician to meet with victims of antisemitism and visit Jewish institutions that have been targeted.

"The visit was not in any way connected to current events in the Middle East," he said.

"This is a viciously anti-Semitic move from a government that is obsessed with targeting the Jewish community and Israel."

In a statement on Monday, Mr Burke said the government "takes a hard line on people who seek to come to our country and spread division".

"If you are coming to Australia to spread a message of hate and division, we don't want you here," he said.

Disagreement over reason for cancellation

Mr Rothman is a member of the National Religious Party — Religious Zionism, which is led by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Earlier this year, Australia and several other nations imposed sanctions that included travel bans on the party's leader and Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The government also denied a visa to former Israeli justice minister Ayelet Shaked late last year, shortly before she was due to embark on a speaking tour.

The letter revoking Mr Rothman's visa, seen by the ABC, said he had the potential to use the events he would be participating in to "promote his controversial views and ideologies, which may lead to fostering division in the community".

It cites examples of Mr Rothman claiming that children were not dying of hunger in Gaza, that those children were Israel's enemies, and that the idea of a two-state solution had "poisoned the minds of the entire world".

The decision states that "his presence in Australia would or might be a risk to the good order of the Australian community or a segment of the Australian community, namely the Islamic population".

It added that "given his inflammatory statements, that likely public knowledge that [Mr Rothman] had entered Australia with the government's permission may encourage others to feel emboldened to voice any anti-Islamic sentiments, if not to take action to give effect to that prejudice".

But during an interview with the ABC, Mr Rothman insisted he was blocked from entering Australia only because he said: "Hamas is bad and Israel is good."

He also denied there was a starvation crisis in Gaza, blaming Hamas for any hunger, and repeated claims published on a conservative American news website that the United Nations had changed the definition of starvation to launch political attacks against Israel.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Tuesday demanded Mr Burke explain why Mr Rothman's visa was cancelled, describing the move to bar an elected member of Israel's parliament from entering the country as a "very unusual thing".

"And I haven't seen explanations from Tony Burke that actually explain what is going on here," she said.