Israel’s President Isaac Herzog will be dining with Anthony Albanese tonight, tomorrow he’s off for a whistle-stop tour of Canberra, courtesy of the RAAF, who will also fly him and his entourage to Melbourne on Thursday. Michael West and Stephanie Tran report.
MWM has obtained a copy of the itinerary of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s NSW state visit.
According to the itinerary, President Herzog is scheduled to have dinner with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Kirribilli House tonight at 7 pm.
The dinner will follow a meeting with Chabad Bondi founder Rabbi Yehoram Ulman and a Chabad community event where the Prime Minister will also be in attendance.
President Herzog will travel on a RAAF plane from Sydney to Canberra tomorrow morning, spend the day in Canberra and return to Sydney in the evening for a meeting at Stephen Lowy’s Watsons Bay residence.
Lowy is a shareholder of Westfield in conjunction with his father, Frank Lowy, and siblings Peter and David. Stephen Lowy served as chairman of the World Board of Trustees of Keren Hayesod/United Israel Appeal until December 2024, raising $1.1 billion for the organisation. A MWM investigation found that United Israel Appeal Australia has remitted $376m to Israel since 2013, with some of these funds going to programs that fund the IDF and illegal settlements.
Heartless. Victor Chang Cardiac Institute and the Israel lobby
In November 2024, Frank Lowy and Mark Leibler became the first Australians to receive the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honour, Israel’s highest civilian honour. The medal was awarded to the pair by President Herzog.
Since his arrival on Monday morning, Herzog has been received by a number of government officials.
On Monday, NSW Premier Chris Minns hosted a lunch for Herzog. The Premier later spoke at an event at the International Convention Centre (the ICC, not to be confused with the International Criminal Court). The event was hosted by the Zionist Federation of Australia.
“I am here also to re-invigorate the important relations between our two strong democracies. I know that by working together we will find the way to expand collaboration and increase understanding and upgrade our relations. During my visit, I intend to discuss it with your national leadership,” Herzog told the ICC crowd.
Today, the Governor of NSW, Margaret Beazley and her husband, Dennis Wilson, held a lunch reception in honour of Herzog at the Government House Ballroom. Herzog also had a breakfast meeting with “business leaders”.
Herzog will depart for Melbourne on Thursday.
“He should be arrested and investigated”
Chris Sidoti, Commissioner on the UN Commission of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem and Israel told MWM in a live interview last week that there is “legal scope and a moral duty” to arrest President Herzog.
Herzog has stated that all Palestinians are responsible for the October 7th Hamas attack and signed bombs dropped on civilians in Gaza.
The UN Commission of Inquiry has found that Herzog’s remarks amount to incitement of genocide in Gaza.
“The statement that an entire nation is responsible for the attack of 7 October 2023 may reasonably be interpreted as incitement to the Israeli security forces personnel to target the Palestinians in Gaza as a group as being collectively culpable for the 7 October 2023 attack in Israel,” the Commission stated.
In light of the Commission’s findings, Sidoti stated that head of state immunity would not apply to Herzog.
“Our commission of inquiry has found that Herzog, the President of Israel, is responsible for incitement to genocide, which is one of the atrocity crimes. And so in my view, Head of State immunity doesn’t apply to Herzog when he is visiting Australia, because of this conclusion from the Commission that he is responsible for incitement to genocide,” Sidoti said.
“That means he should be arrested. He should be investigated. If there is evidence sufficient for prosecution, he should be prosecuted. I would see that as a legal duty but also an ethical duty.”
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