Israeli President Herzog meeting with ASIO raises issues for Labor

When Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Australia, the government’s line was that he was here to provide comfort in the wake of the anti-Semitic Bondi atrocity and not as a representative of Netanyahu’s government, which continues to engage in genocide, ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate massacres of Palestinians.

Prime Minister Albanese said, “President Herzog is the equivalent of the Governor General of Australia”; this has been stated repeatedly by Albanese and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. The obvious implication was that Herzog’s role was mostly ceremonial, like our royal aide figure, so he represented the state of Israel itself, not an individual government, and was therefore separate from the actions of Netanyahu and his criminal gang.