Burke under pressure to bar Israeli journalist who would ‘fan the flames of racism’

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke faces growing calls to ban a controversial Israeli journalist from entering Australia over inflammatory remarks, including his assertion that 100,000 Palestinians should have been killed at the start of the war in Gaza.

Zvi Yehezkeli, a commentator on Arab affairs on Israeli TV channel i24, is scheduled to visit Melbourne and Sydney for speaking events in March, but Burke is considering denying him a visa to travel to the country.

The advertisement for the mental health fundraising events, run by Israeli non-profit the Institute for Social Momentum, says Yehezkeli plans to deliver a “powerful and uncompromising lecture on security, identity and the psychological impact of living in extreme times”.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils President Rateb Jneid said: “We would be surprised if an individual who has publicly called for mass civilian casualties were granted a visa, given the clear precedent the minister has set in similar matters.”

The head of the nation’s peak Muslim advocacy body noted that Burke had cancelled or refused several recent visa applications for individuals considered a risk to social cohesion in Australia.

“Our expectation is that those powers are applied consistently and without favour,” Jneid said.

“If the government has determined that public statements which inflame tensions or advocate large-scale violence are grounds for denying entry in other cases, then the same standard should apply here.”

In an Israeli television appearance in December 2023, Yehezkeli said the Israel Defence Forces should have started the war in Gaza by killing 100,000 Gazans.

“In my opinion, the IDF should have launched a more fatal attack, with 100,000 killed in the beginning,” he said.

At the time, about 20,000 Palestinians were estimated to have been killed in Gaza.

He also said Gaza would need to be brought to “the point of a humanitarian disaster” to destroy listed terror group Hamas, and applauded a 2025 Israeli hospital strike that killed a group of journalists.

“If Israel has decided to eliminate the journalists, better late than never,” Yehezkeli said during an evening news broadcast, accusing them of serving as Hamas mouthpieces.

Burke said on the weekend: “It always surprises me when someone who has made the sorts of comments that this individual has advertises a speaking tour before they’ve even received a visa.”

Bart Shteinman, an executive committee member of the progressive Jewish Council of Australia, which accused Israel of a genocide in Gaza, said: “You cannot claim to care about antisemitism and racism while allowing a man who advocates for ‘humanitarian disaster’ to headline events in our capital cities.

“A lecture by someone who has openly called for mass slaughter of Gazans can only exacerbate anti-Palestinian racism and the broader fissures in our multicultural society.”

Noting the royal commission into antisemitism began its public hearings on Tuesday, Shteinman said: “To allow international figures to come here and fan the flames of racism will undoubtedly make the job of the royal commission harder.”

The conservative Australian Jewish Association, which is partnering to host Yehezkeli’s Australian events, did not respond to requests for comment.

Greens immigration spokesman David Shoebridge said: “The reality is that the Israeli military attacks in Gaza, by some estimates, have killed over 100,000 civilians.

“This person’s calls for war crimes are already the Netanyahu government’s policy.”

Urging the government to impose the same sanctions on Israel as Russia for invading Ukraine, Shoebridge said: “Burke may refuse him entry, but unless his government takes clear action to oppose this sort of mass killing wherever it occurs, it will ring hollow.”

In January, Burke cancelled the visa of Sammy Yahood, a Jewish social media influencer who called for the ban of Islam and was booked to speak in Australia, saying that “spreading hatred is not a good reason to come”.

He previously denied a visa to former Israeli cabinet minister Ayelet Shaked on the grounds that she would undermine social cohesion and cancelled a visa for far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman days before he was due to arrive in Australia for a speaking event.

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