Australia scrapped the visa of an Israeli lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition who has advocated against Palestinian statehood and called for Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Monday that Canberra has barred far-right Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman from visiting the country for a series of appearances.
Burke said in an emailed statement that the government takes a hard line on those who seek to spread division in Australia, and that anyone coming to promote a message of hate and division was not welcome.
“Under our government, Australia will be a country where everyone can be safe, and feel safe,” he said, without disclosing specific reasons for cancelling Rothman’s visa.
Far-right Israeli politician MP Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionism party, who has labeled children in Gaza as “enemies” and advocated for Israel’s full takeover of the West Bank, has been barred from entering Australia.
Rothman had been scheduled to speak at two public… pic.twitter.com/c8xdbdkUP2
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Rothman, a Knesset member from the Religious Zionism party led by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, was scheduled to visit Sydney and Melbourne this month at the invitation of a local conservative Jewish organization.
Australia is among countries set to recognize a Palestinian state next month, a decision that Rothman said would be a “grave mistake and a huge reward for Hamas and for terror”.
In June, Australia, along with four other nations including Britain, sanctioned Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over accusations of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Rothman said that he was informed his visa had been cancelled due to remarks the Australian government considered controversial and inflammatory, including his claim Palestinian statehood would lead to the destruction of the State of Israel and his call for Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.
“Nothing that I said personally has not been said over and over again by the vast majority of the public in Israel and the Government of Israel,” Rothman told Reuters by phone on Monday.
The Zionist entity later responded in anger, revoking the residency visas of Australia’s representatives to the Palestinian Authority and implementing other steps.
Source: Agencies
