The Australian government canceled the visa of a British-Israeli activist and critic of Islam shortly before he was scheduled to fly Down Under to speak before Jewish audiences.
“As in other cases, they wait until the last minute,” the Australian Jewish Association, which invited the activist known as Sammy Yahood to speak, said on X, noting that the visa was yanked three hours before Yahood’s flight was scheduled to take off.
Yahood, who uses that name (it means “Jews” in Arabic) for safety reasons, grew up in the United Kingdom and recently moved to Israel, was due to run a series of self-defense workshops and launch his “peace through strength” campaign.
“Another Jewish visitor has had his visa canceled. Sammy Yahood is a British and Israeli citizen. He is Jewish,” the AJA wrote.
The visa’s cancellation coincided with a new policy meant to keep out threats to the Jewish community, AJA said. “Parliament just voted to increase the powers of Toby Burke to cancel visas as an apparent response to support the Jewish community following the Bondi massacre,” AJA said, referencing the murder of 15 people at a Chanukah party in Sydney on Dec. 14.
Robert Gregory, the CEO of AJA, said in a statement that the cancellation of Yahood’s visa was part of a “misuse of Interior Minister Tony Burke’s ministerial powers” under new hate speech laws.
Yahood, who has called on Diaspora Jews to move to Israel and said that most of their communities were doomed, was scheduled to speak at major synagogues in Sydney and Melbourne and to participate in a series of events with Jewish organizations.
“He now joins a growing list of Jewish visitors whose visas have been revoked by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, including former Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, American technology entrepreneur Hillel Fuld, and Knesset member Simcha Rothman,” Gregory noted.
“The persistent targeting of Jewish visitors” by the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “has contributed to the rise of antisemitism in Australia. This reinforces deep concerns within the Jewish community that, despite the horror of the Bondi massacre and the government’s belated apology, the Albanese government hasn’t changed and was never genuine,” Gregory added.
One of the events in Sydney was due to be attended by survivors of the Bondi massacre.
“This targeting is particularly galling given that the government has not acted against Islamic hate preachers,” Gregory said. “Whenever I speak to Jewish people around the world, they express great concern about what has happened in Australia. This is going to further tarnish Australia’s reputation.”
Yahood has criticized Islam on X, saying it “cannot be trusted to simply ‘co-exist.’” On Nov. 6, he wrote on X: “It’s time to ban Islam. It’s time to stop being tolerant of those that are not tolerant of us.”
In September 2024, Canberra introduced new hate-speech legislation following the targeting of the Jewish and pro-Israel community in the aftermath of the Hamas-led massacre in Israel’s south on Oct. 7, 2023.
An unnamed source familiar with the decision to ban Shaked told Israel’s Channel 12 News that the former justice minister had been barred from visiting the country to “offset” the new legislation.
Announcing the decision to ban Fuld in June, Australia’s Department of Home Affairs cited several social media posts, including one where he said Gazans should be viewed as Germans were under Nazi Germany.
“They cited some pretty mainstream stuff,” Fuld told JNS about the 10-page document that the Australian government sent him. He added: “The message is: ‘You’re a Zionist and we don’t want you here.”
Rothman, a lawmaker who chairs the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, was denied entry to Australia ahead of a planned solidarity visit with the Jewish community amid rising antisemitism.
In addition to the visa cancellation, Rothman received a three-year ban from traveling to the country.
