Labor MP Ed Husic has “deep concerns” about the upcoming visit of the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, saying that it is difficult to reconcile the concepts of social solidarity with the 2023 image of the leader signing an artillery shell that is about to be dropped on Gaza.
Husic said he did not believe it was a good decision for his Labor government to issue an invitation for Herzog to visit Australia, made after the Bondi terror attack.
He also said he supported the right of Australians to peacefully protest against the Israeli government’s actions over its bombing of Gaza, calling it a “slur” to link mass anti-war protests to the Bondi shooting on a Jewish holiday.
“Obviously I’m very uncomfortable about this visit, especially because President Herzog said some things that tried to remove responsibility at home for October 7 to an entire population,” Husic told Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast.
“This has attracted the attention of the international court of justice.
“It is very difficult for me to reconcile the vision of his signing of bombs dropped on Palestinian homes … with the idea of social solidarity.
A charge of genocide against Israel has been filed by South Africa at the international court of justice, but the court has yet to issue its verdict.
Separately, the international criminal court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense secretary Yoav Gallant over allegations of war crimes.
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No warrant has been issued for Herzog.
Herzog will visit Australia next week at the invitation of the governor general, Sam Mostyn, to meet with Jewish communities following the Bondi terror attack, where 15 people were killed at a Hanukah festival in December 2025.
Herzog is Israel’s head of state, as opposed to Netanyahu, who has executive power as the country’s prime minister.
Asked if it was a mistake for the government to invite Herzog to visit, Husic said: “I have the right to have a different view and my view is I don’t think it’s a good decision, but it happens.
Albanese said it was “absolutely appropriate for the head of state to visit” Australia after the Bondi attack, but Herzog’s visit will be met with protests from pro-Palestinian groups as more and more politicians – inside and outside Labor – raise concerns about Israel’s war on Gaza and the resulting civilian deaths.
Critics of Herzog’s visit point to the conclusion of the United Nations commission of inquiry in September 2025 that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. That commission, which does not speak for the UN, said Herzog, Netanyahu and Gallant “incited the commission of genocide”.
The report quoted Herzog in October 2023 as saying about Gaza: “This is an entire country that is responsible. This is not true, this rhetoric is about civilians who are not aware and are not involved. This is completely false.”
The former Israeli foreign ministry REJECTED the report, calling it “distorted and false” and claiming that it “relies entirely on the lies of Hamas”.
Herzog denied the allegations of incitement and called the separate genocide case against Israel at the international court of justice a “blood libel form”. He pushed back the criticism of his comments about the Gaza war, saying that they were taken out of context and noted that he said that Israel respects international law and has no reason for killing innocent civilians.
The ICJ has yet to issue its final ruling.
Husic said he understood that Herzog claimed to have been misrepresented in the criticism against him, and suggested that the president use his visit to discuss a lasting peace in the Middle East and Palestinian statehood.
“But without that, I don’t see how to increase his visit, because of the concerns that exist in his position,” said Husic. “He is part of the leadership of a country that has, or its behavior failed to distinguish between civilians and combatants in destructive ways when you see the number of people killed.
“The most difficult thing for me is the impact on the children, that they don’t let go of the burden of what happened on October 7. And there have to be leaders who can say, ‘that’s not the way to go’.”
Three State Labor MPs have said they will join demonstrations against Herzog, while concerns about the visit have been raised by federal MP Sophie Scamps and the federal Greens. The Labor Friends of Palestine group also asked the government to withdraw Herzog’s invitation.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Gaza war has surpassed 70,000, Gaza’s health ministry said in November, after 1,200 Israelis were killed in a Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.
Husic said that international bodies should be allowed to investigate the conflict in Gaza, and that decisions made through that campaign require “credibility”. He went on to say that protests against Israel’s bombing of Gaza – one of which he attended on the Sydney Harbor Bridge – had been unfairly maligned.
“I think it’s a big slight against Australians who are genuinely concerned about what they’re seeing in Gaza and who are coming out in record numbers, marching peacefully week after week, week after week to show the depth of their concern – which is linked to the horrific event we saw in Bondi,” he said.