‘Shameful’: Far-right Israeli MP speaks out on visa cancellation
The far-right Israeli politician who was blocked from travelling to Australia, triggering a fiery spat between the two nations, has claimed his visa was cancelled for expressing mainstream Israeli views as he denied referring to Gazan children as enemies of his nation.
The Albanese government’s decision to cancel Israeli parliamentarian Simcha Rothman’s visa for a planned speaking tour last week prompted a ferocious response, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branding Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese “weak” and his government cancelling the visas of Australian diplomats working in the occupied West Bank.
Simcha Rothman, a member of the Religious Zionist Party, was denied a visa to tour Australia.Credit: NurPhoto via AFP
Speaking at an online event organised by the conservative Australian Jewish Association on Sunday night, Rothman said he believed the cancellation of his visa was a “shameful” attempt to silence Israelis who have different political views to the Australian government.
Rothman said quotes cited by the Department of Home Affairs to justify the refusal of his visa – including support for the elimination of Hamas and opposition to a two-state solution – were commonplace in Israel.
“The threat is that they are outlawing basically the views of the State of Israel and of most of the Jewish people,” he said, citing a vote last year in the Israeli parliament in which a vast majority of politicians voted against the creation of a Palestinian state.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has said the key reason for the decision to block Rothman from travelling to Australia was that he had described Gazan children as enemies of Israel in a May interview with Britain’s Channel 4.
“It was a quote by the journalist. I never said that children in Gaza are our enemies,” Rothman told the online event. “I did not say it. I said, ‘The Gazans are our enemies’.”
In the interview Rothman replied that “they are our enemies” when asked about children in Gaza, although some defenders have argued that his comments have been misconstrued.
A nine-page Home Affairs Department record of the Rothman decision said that Rothman could have used his planned speaking tour to Australia to “continue making inflammatory statements to promote his controversial views and ideologies, which may lead to fostering division in the community”.
Burke defended the decision by saying: “Our government takes a hard line on people who seek to come to our country and spread division. Under our government, Australia will be a country where everyone can be safe, and feel safe.”
Rothman is a member of the Religious Zionism party led by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who was last year sanctioned by Australia for inciting extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.
Rothman urged Netanyahu to proceed with a plan to conquer Gaza City and eventually take control of all of Gaza rather than make a deal with Hamas to pause the fighting in exchange for the return of some Israeli hostages.
Australia and other nations have urged Netanyahu not to invade Gaza City, arguing that it would make the already catastrophic situation for Gazan civilians even worse.
“The only way to get all the hostages back as soon as possible is never stop for a deal, always go until the end,” Rothman said. “Basically, like what President Trump said, tell Hamas to return all the hostages, and if they don’t return, open the gates on hell on them until they return all the hostages full stop.”
Rothman said he supported Israel asserting full sovereignty over the West Bank, an area he referred to by its biblical name of Judea and Samaria.
An estimated 2.8 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which was envisaged to be the biggest part of a Palestinian state and the Australian government officially describes as occupied territory.
“It’s supposed to belong to the homeland of the Jewish people, aka the State of Israel, and to say that it’s Palestinian occupied territories, as your government [does], it’s just based on nothing,” he said.
“This land is ours: it’s the homeland of the Jewish people.”
Rothman said Israel would never accept a Palestinian state on its border because of fears it would be used as a base to launch terror attacks on Israel in a repeat of the October 7, 2023 massacre that killed an estimated 1200 people.
“Why would anyone in his right mind start a terrorist state near his borders?” he said.
“I don’t think anyone in Australia would accept a situation when Israel tells the Australian government you should have a terrorist state right near Sydney, right near Melbourne, so you will be attacked from there by terrorists.”
Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory told the event he believed the government had done his organisation a favour by cancelling Rothman’s visa and raising the prominence of his views.