Australia charges teen over alleged death threats to Israeli President — Why is Isaac Herzog’s visit controversial?

Australia has charged a 19-year-old man over alleged online death threats against Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as Sydney braces for protests and heightened security ahead of the Israeli leader’s visit, Reuters reported.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the teenager allegedly posted the threats on a social media platform last month “towards a foreign head of state and internationally protected person”, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

Police did not publicly identify the target, but Australian media widely reported the alleged threats were directed at Herzog. The Sydney Morning Herald also reported the teenager allegedly made threats against U.S. President Donald Trump.

The man was refused police bail and will appear before a court in Sydney on Thursday. Police said a mobile phone and equipment for making or using drugs were seized during a search of a home in Sydney on Wednesday.

The visit follows an invitation extended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach on December 14, when 15 people were killed during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration.

Herzog is expected to meet survivors and the families of victims of the attack during commemorations in Sydney.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Herzog would be treated in line with security protocols for visiting leaders.

“He will be a welcomed and honoured guest,” Marles told ABC News on Thursday.

Herzog’s arrival has prompted planned protests in major cities, including Sydney, where organisers have called for a “mass, peaceful gathering.”

The Palestine Action Group (PAG) has urged supporters to rally on Monday and march to the New South Wales state parliament, despite restrictions that limit the ability of organisers to gain authorisation for moving demonstrations.

New South Wales Police extended those restrictions this week, citing “significant animosity” from some groups ahead of the Israeli president’s visit.

NSW Police commissioner Mal Lanyon defended the decision, arguing public safety must take priority.

“Free speech comes with responsibility, this is a time for calm, this is a time for the community to come together,” Lanyon said.

Although the declaration does not explicitly prohibit protests, it restricts organisers from obtaining formal authorisation that can protect them from arrest for obstructing roads or pedestrians. Protesters can also be issued a move-on direction, even if taking part in a static demonstration.

AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein described the visit as significant for the community following the Bondi attack and the broader climate of antisemitism.

“The visit comes at a particularly important time for Australia's Jewish community following the tragic events at Bondi and the surge of antisemitism across the country, offering a powerful message of solidarity and support,” Rubenstein said in a statement.

He added that Herzog’s presence would form part of a broader communal recovery, saying it was “an essential part of the healing process” and that he was “very confident” AIJAC represented “the overwhelming majority of Australian Jews in saying as much”.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler also argued the visit would provide reassurance.

He said Herzog’s visit will “bring comfort to those who are grieving and reassurance to a community living with fear”.

Critics say invitation risks conflating Jewish identity with Israel’s Gaza war

However, opposition to the visit is not limited to pro-Palestine activists.

The progressive Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) has criticised the invitation, arguing it risks instrumentalising grief from the Bondi attack while Israel faces international legal scrutiny over its conduct in Gaza.

JCA executive officer Sarah Schwartz said: “Inviting a foreign head of state who is implicated in an ongoing genocide as a representative of the Jewish community is deeply offensive and risks entrenching the dangerous and antisemitic conflation between Jewish identity and the actions of the Israeli state,”

The JCA is among several religious and legal groups who have written to the AFP, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland calling for a criminal investigation into Herzog’s rhetoric, which they allege amounts to incitement.

In 2021, the Knesset elected Herzog president — a role that is largely ceremonial but carries significant symbolic influence as Israel’s head of state and a supposed figure of national unity.

He succeeded his father, Chaim Herzog, who served as president from 1983 to 1993.

While the presidency is not an executive office, Herzog has often echoed the position of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition during the Gaza war.

In the days following the attack, Herzog said: “It's an entire nation out there that is responsible”.

A United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) concluded in September that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and said Herzog, Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant had “incited the commission of genocide” in their speeches and statements.

The commission said Herzog’s comments were not a literal call for genocide, but could reasonably be interpreted — in the context of Israel’s military response — as incitement to target Palestinians in Gaza as a group.

Herzog has strongly denied the allegation, saying his remarks were taken out of context.

In December 2023, Herzog was also photographed writing the message “I rely on you” on an artillery shell intended for use in Gaza — an image that has been repeatedly cited by critics as emblematic of political support for the campaign.

Israel has categorically rejected the COI’s findings as “distorted and false”.

Israel is separately defending a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has ordered provisional measures but has not yet issued a final ruling.

The Israeli President rejected the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee’s “irrefutable” declaration of starvation in Gaza, arguing there was a “huge amount” of aid entering the territory via trucks and airdrops.

Herzog blamed the UN for incorrectly distributing aid and Hamas for controlling supplies, repeating Israel’s position that there was a “man-made shortage” of aid getting into the strip.

Israel has repeatedly denied committing genocide in Gaza, saying it has the right to defend itself and maintains an “unwavering commitment” to international law.

In Sydney, the planned PAG march from Town Hall to state parliament would pass through the protest restriction zone, setting up a likely legal and operational flashpoint for police.

Commissioner Lanyon said he had not been pressured politically to extend the restrictions, but acknowledged the Israeli visit was among the factors considered.

Albanese, meanwhile, has urged the public to “recognise the solemn nature of the visit” and “bear in mind by the way that they respond over the coming weeks”.

(With agency inputs)