The Australian government rejected on Thursday calls to arrest Israeli President Isaac Herzog during his visit to the country, scheduled to begin next Monday and last four days.
Herzog is set to visit Australia to meet members of the Jewish community following an attack on December 14 that targeted a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, killing 15 people.
A United Nations commission concluded in 2025 that Herzog had “incited genocide,” citing remarks in which he described Palestinians as an entire nation responsible for Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Chris Sidoti, a human rights lawyer and member of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on human rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said Herzog “should be arrested if he attends,” calling on Australian authorities to withdraw the invitation or detain him upon arrival.
Agence France-Presse cited Sidoti accusing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of making a “serious mistake” by inviting Herzog, and arguing that the decision “should be reversed before it is too late.”
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, however, said the government extended the invitation at the request of the Jewish community and ruled out any move to arrest Herzog. The visit, she added, aims to honor the victims of the Bondi attack and to support Australia’s Jewish community following what she described as the country’s worst antisemitic terrorist attack.
Pro-Palestinian activists have called for protests across Australia against Herzog’s visit, including in Sydney, but Australian police refused to authorize demonstrations, citing expanded powers granted after the Bondi attack, and saying they had charged a 19-year-old man from Sydney with making an online death threat against a foreign head of state. Authorities declined to confirm media reports suggesting that Herzog was the target.
In October 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected Israel’s appeal to suspend the arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The ICC issued the warrants, on November 2024, over alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the October 7 attacks. Prosecutor Karim Khan has accused Netanyahu and Gallant of targeting civilians and using starvation as a method of warfare—charges Israel rejects as politically motivated. The ruling was delivered by a three-judge pre-trial panel, all of whom are under US sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration.