Labor group urges Albanese to rescind invitation to Israeli president Isaac Herzog | Anthony Albanese

A group of Labor Party members have expressed anger at their country’s military bombardment of Gaza, calling on the Albanian government to cancel an invitation for Israeli president Isaac Herzog to visit Australia.

Citing further tensions within the Labor movement over the war in the Middle East and the alleged anti-Semitic terror attack at Bondi Beach, the Labor Friends of Palestine group said that if Herzog went to Australia, federal police should investigate him for his alleged role in inciting genocide; International law experts say this is unlikely to happen.

Labor Friends of Palestine, which says it has more than 1,000 grassroots members across Australia and has been agitating internally for the federal government to recognize a Palestinian state, called for Herzog’s invitation to be rescinded. A group of smaller Jewish community groups, including the Australian Jewish Council, Inner Sydney Jewish Voices and Australian Anti-Zionism, also wrote to prime minister Anthony Albanese this week, calling for the withdrawal of Herzog’s invitation and claiming his visit risked “exacerbating racism and antisemitism” because he is “not a neutral or ceremonial head of state”.

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Other mainstream Jewish community groups welcomed Herzog’s visit. Alex Ryvchin, Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jews. in question He looked forward to Herzog’s visit bringing “tremendous comfort to the families” of the Bondi victims and “hoping for the resumption of bilateral relations.”

Albanese said on December 24, following the attack on Australian Jews at the Hanukkah festival on Bondi beach, that he asked governor-general Sam Mostyn to formally invite Herzog to visit in early 2026.

Herzog is Israel’s president, unlike Benjamin Netanyahu, who holds executive authority as the country’s prime minister. Albanese stated that he did not invite Netanyahu, saying at the time that “a visit by the head of state was entirely appropriate.” Writing on social media, Herzog accepted the government’s invitation and said he, too, had been invited by the Zionist Federation of Australia to join the Jewish community during his visit.

Labor Friends of Palestine alleged that Herzog “actively supported and enabled a long list of the gravest violations of international law” during the bombardment of Gaza, claiming that he was “working hand in hand” with Netanyahu, who is subject to international criminal court arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC did not issue an arrest warrant for Herzog.

The group’s statement pointed out Herzog’s statement that “it is an entire nation that is responsible” for the October 7 attacks against Israel in 2023, and the conclusion of the United Nations commission in September 2025 that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. The commission, which does not speak on behalf of the UN, stated that Herzog, Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant “provoked the genocide commission.”

Israeli foreign ministry rejected He claimed that the commission report was “distorted and inaccurate” and “based entirely on Hamas’ lies.”

Herzog, the genocide case filed against Israel in the international court of justice “a form of blood libel” He pushed back against criticism of his 2023 comments, claiming they were taken out of context, and cited the same media as saying Israel would respect international law and that there was no excuse for the killing of innocent civilians. The ICJ has not yet announced its final decision.

The Israeli embassy in Canberra and Albanese’s office have been contacted for comment.

Donald Rothwell, professor of international law at the Australian National University, said the government was unlikely to take such actions. He noted that Herzog had been expressly invited to visit by the government himself, and that in any event there was no publicly disclosed ICC arrest warrant for Herzog – unlike Netanyahu – meaning Australia had no obligation under international law to take legal action against Herzog.

“But the real problem is that he is a sitting head of state and unquestionably enjoys head of state immunity. Accordingly, he is not subject to Australian law or prosecution for crimes he may have committed within or outside Australia,” Rothwell said.

The letter from smaller Jewish organizations claimed there would be “mass protests”. [including] If Herzog visits, there will be a very large group of Jewish attendees.

Australian Palestinian Shamikh Badra, who lost seven family members in the conflict in Gaza, lodged a formal complaint about Herzog’s visit to home affairs minister Tony Burke, calling on the government to consider its obligations under the UN genocide convention, including the prevention and punishment of genocide.

In the letter seen by Guardian Australia, Badra said he was writing to the government “as a person directly and severely affected by the events in Gaza”.

“As a result of the ongoing military offensive on Gaza, I lost seven members of my family, including my father, my brother, his four children and his wife. Their remains have not been found to this day,” he wrote. Burke has been contacted for comment.

Monique Cormier, an associate professor at Monash University’s law school, said she agreed with Rothwell that Herzog would be protected from legal action by head of state immunity, saying the government was not required to respond to the complaint under international law.

“By inviting him here or hosting him here, there is a possibility that Australia would be breaching its obligations under the genocide convention to prevent and punish genocide, but that is unlikely to go anywhere.”

Cormier said it was not possible to ask the AFP to investigate Herzog during his visit.

“This is definitely something they cannot do,” he said, saying AFP needed permission from the attorney general. “The Supreme Court made that clear.”

Zionist Federation president Jeremy Leibler criticized calls for Herzog’s invitation to be rescinded, calling it a “disturbing escalation in rhetoric” that overlooked Australia’s long-standing relationship with Israel.

“The government’s invitation to President Herzog is an appropriate and important gesture of solidarity with Australians following the deadliest terrorist attack on Australian soil,” he said.

“Calls by groups such as Friends of Palestine Labor to cancel the invitation or for the police to investigate a head of state attending the visiting ceremony can be based neither on facts nor in law.”