By Alexander Cornwell and Alasdair Pal
TEL AVIV/SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia has cancelled the visa of an Israeli lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition who has advocated against Palestinian statehood and called for Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.
Simcha Rothman, a Knesset member from the Religious Zionism party led by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, was scheduled to visit Sydney and Melbourne this month at the invitation of a local conservative Jewish organisation.
Australia is among countries set to recognise a Palestinian state next month, a decision that Rothman said would be a “grave mistake and a huge reward for Hamas and for terror”.
In June, Australia, along with four other nations including Britain, sanctioned Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over accusations of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Rothman said that he was informed his visa had been cancelled due to remarks the Australian government considered controversial and inflammatory, including his claim Palestinian statehood would lead to the destruction of the State of Israel and his call for Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.
“Nothing that I said personally has not been said over and over again by the vast majority of the public in Israel and the Government of Israel,” Rothman told Reuters by phone on Monday.
Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke said in an emailed statement that the government takes a hard line on those who seek to spread division in Australia, and that anyone coming to promote a message of hate and division was not welcome.
“Under our government, Australia will be a country where everyone can be safe, and feel safe,” he said, without disclosing specific reasons for cancelling Rothman’s visa.
The Home Affairs Ministry declined further comment.
Rothman, who chairs a parliamentary committee that deals with judicial matters, was invited by the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) to meet members of the Jewish community.
AJA Chief Executive Robert Gregory said that the purpose of Rothman’s visit was “to show solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community, which is facing a wave of antisemitism,” and that during his visit he was to meet with victims of antisemitism.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv and Alasdair Pal in Sydney, Editing by William Maclean)
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