Thousands block Melbourne as Israeli president ends contentious Australia visit

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters shouted slogans and blocked streets in Melbourne under the close watch of hundreds of police as Israeli President Isaac Herzog ended his contentious visit to Australia.

Authorities estimated 10,000 protesters, who labeled Herzog a war criminal, shut down several downtown Melbourne streets with a massive rally on Thursday evening.

In Melbourne's central business district, a large crowd gathered outside one of the city's main railway stations. Many protesters wore keffiyeh scarves and waved Palestinian flags.

Neville Steer, 69, travelled about one hour from the suburb of McCrae to join the rally that police expected to draw around 5,000 protesters.

"My concern is for the people in Palestine and particularly in Gaza, the impact that Israel's having on the whole population," he was quoted as saying.

Elijah Fokkens, 20, said it was hard to sit by and do nothing after seeing the destruction of Gaza by Israel’s regime.

He said he was "protesting Herzog being as destructive and as implicit as he is in this genocide. I think it's really important to show up and demand our government do better."

Meanwhile, graffiti that appeared on a Melbourne University campus on Thursday calling for the death of Herzog has been referred to the police, the university said.

Herzog has been dogged by protesters as he visited Sydney, the national capital Canberra, and Melbourne during the four-day tour of Australia.

Police and protesters earlier also clashed in Sydney on Monday evening, with 27 arrested after demonstrations against Herzog's visit turned violent.

Both sides accused each other of assault, with police eventually using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd in the city's central business district.

Protesters cite a United Nations Commission of Inquiry that last year concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Herzog, incited these acts.

Herzog is visiting Australia this week following an invitation from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the aftermath of the December 14 shooting at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach that killed 15.

The visit has attracted the ire of people in Australia, who accuse Herzog of being complicit in large number of civilian deaths in the besieged Palestinian strip.

“Now that means his visit is not a visit to mourn, but it’s a visit that is political, that is in fact propaganda,” Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti told Seven Network television.

“So his view seems to be different from the Australian government’s view as to the purposes of his visit.”

Sidoti was one of three experts appointed by the UN’s Human Rights Council to an inquiry that reported in September last year that Herzog, Netanyahu, and former Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant had incited genocide in Gaza.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former war minister on Nov. 21, 2024, over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, where more than 72,000 people have been killed in a brutal assault since Oct. 2023.

The reports indicate that the ICC was seeking additional arrest warrants against Israeli officials over the occupying regime’s unbridled onslaught against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

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