Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has defended his decision to prevent a former Israeli politician from entering Australia arguing her presence would “seriously undermine social cohesion”.
'National security obligation': Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke defends decision to reject ex- Israel politician Ayelet Shaked
But the Home Affairs Minister defended the decision to refuse the visa by pointing to public comments the right wing politician had made about the Palestinians and the conflict in Gaza. “If someone's going to compare Palestinian children to snakes to call for all two million people -Palestinians in Gaza - to leave, to talk about cities being turned into soccer fields.
“I have been refusing a large number of visas … of people who want to come here to talk about the conflict, if we think that they are going to seriously undermine social cohesion when they're here,” Minister Burke said. “If someone previously had made comments about Israelis and had described Israelis using terms like being like an octopus or being like reptiles or something horrific like that. There's no way I'd let them in the country. Ms Shaked has compared Palestinian children to, described them as little snakes.”
“It is not the act of a responsible government, but further evidence of the loss of perspective and principle where the primary concern seems to be shoring up votes, since the horrific terrorist attacks of October 7,” AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said.
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