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Israel Pulls Australian Officials’ Visas Amid Diplomatic Rift
Illustrative: Supporters of Hamas gather for a rally in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Reuters/Joel Carrett
Israel announced it will revoke the residency visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to Australia’s increasing hostility toward the Jewish state, further escalating tensions as relations between the two countries deteriorate.
“I decided to revoke the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a post on X on Monday.
“I also instructed the Israeli Embassy in Canberra to carefully examine any official Australian visa application for entry to Israel,” he continued.
In his statement, Saar linked this latest decision to Australia’s announcement last week that it intends to recognize a Palestinian state in September.
He also said this move follows “Australia’s unjustified refusal to grant visas to a number of Israeli figures,” among them former Minister Ayelet Shaked and Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee chairman MK Simcha Rotman.
Rothman’s visa was denied this week, only a day before he was set to travel to Australia for community events.
“If you come here to spread hate and division, we don’t want you,” Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement about Rothman’s visa denial.
He also noted that Rothman would not be eligible to reapply for another three years, stressing Australia’s commitment to being a place where “everyone can feel safe.”
Australian officials have argued that Rothman’s visit could offend the country’s Muslim population, drawing condemnation from the local Jewish community and Israeli leaders, who accused the government of being lenient toward Hamas supporters while barring a senior Israeli lawmaker.
“While antisemitism is raging in Australia, including manifestations of violence against Jews and Jewish institutions, the Australian government is choosing to fuel it by false accusations, as if the visit of Israeli figures will disrupt public order and harm Australia’s Muslim population,” Saar said in his post on X. “It is shameful and unacceptable!”
Last week, Australia announced it will formally recognize a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly’s annual debate next month, joining a growing list of European nations backing the move despite sharp criticism from Israeli leaders and the country’s Jewish community.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering, and starvation in Gaza.”
Albanese also said he had received assurances from the PA — which has governed much of the West Bank without holding elections for two decades — that there would be “no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned Australia’s decision, calling it “a reward for terror, a prize for the enemies of freedom, liberty, and democracy.”
“This is a grave and dangerous mistake, which will not help a single Palestinian and sadly will not bring back a single hostage,” the Israeli leader said during a press conference, referring to the dozens of Israeli hostages still being held by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Ties between Israel and Australia have soured since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, with Canberra becoming one of the country’s most outspoken critics on the global stage.
Meanwhile, antisemitism spiked to record levels in Australia — especially in Sydney and Melbourne, which are home to some 85 percent of the country’s Jewish population — following the start of the war in Gaza.
According to a report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), antisemitism quadrupled to record levels following the Oct. 7 atrocities, with Australian Jews experiencing more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024.
Israeli leaders have condemned Australian officials for anti-Israel bias and inaction on antisemitism, while the country’s Jewish community has consistently called for stronger measures to combat the growing wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes.
On Monday, an Israeli man looking for a haircut in Melbourne was turned away after the salon owner recognized his accent and accused him of being a “baby killer” responsible for “genocide in Gaza.”
In recent months, several Jewish sites in Australia — including schools, synagogues, homes, and cars — have been targeted with vandalism and even arson.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.