Israel’s President Herzog in Melbourne
President Herzog: “Let us go together from strength to strength.”
The Jewish community gathered in Southbank on Thursday to hear President of the State of Israel Isaac Herzog’s address as part of his official state visit to Australia, amid extensive security and a heavy police presence, as protestors gathered near the venue.
Before introducing President Herzog, Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leiber spoke of why he believed the state visit was vital at this time.
“Bondi was not just an act of terror, it was a rupture, and it tore apart the illusion that distance could keep hatred at bay. It has forever changed how Australian Jews see themselves in this country. Within hours of the attack, President Herzog called me and said, ‘Israel is with you.’ He said, ‘Just as you stood with us, we now stand with you’.”
Leibler remarked that President Herzog’s visit was a response to the normalisation of antisemitism disguised as anti-Zionism.
“The truth is that in 2026, the respectable way to express antisemitism is through the demonisation of Israel. When Israel is smeared uniquely evil, ‘Zionist’ becomes a safe word for ‘Jew’. And it is for this reason that the President’s visit at this very moment matters so deeply, not as ceremony as clarity. The invitation to President Herzog for a state visit tells the purveyors of antisemitic hate that Australian Jews belong here, that our connection to Israel is legitimate and that attempts to demonise us will not be tolerated. It was a choice, the right choice, and I commend the Australian Government for making it.”
President Herzog expressed that while he and his wife Michal came to Australia to bring comfort to those grieving, they were leaving inspired and filled with hope.
“Being here today in Melbourne, surrounded by Jewish school children, my dear friends and allies, in the presence of the Premier of Victoria and all of you, I feel that hope is in the air,” he said.
“Michal and I came to Australia on a journey of solidarity and love following the horrific terrorist attack on Bondi, which claimed the lives of 15 innocent Australians, we came knowing that the blood-curdling act of blind hatred, hatred of Jews, hatred of Australian values that led to Bondi was not an isolated event. It followed nearly two and a half agonising years for this community in which your Jewish identities became targets in Australia. Just as you watched a massacre and a war unfold in Israel, we came here to be with you, to look you in the eye, to embrace, to remember and weep together.”
Discussing his meetings with politicians, the Israeli President stated, “This week, I held meetings with the Governor General of Australia, the Prime Minister of Australia, ministers, opposition leaders, governors and premiers and many opinion shapers, and I can tell you that all discussions with the Australian leadership were conducted with candour, open mindedness and a great deal of mutual respect. I found serious partners who are willing to hold serious conversations and address the vile rhetoric, the misinformation, the shameful antisemitism, head on.”
Referring to the protestors who had gathered against his visit, he asked why they were not protesting at Iran’s embassy.
“It’s obscure and odd that we need to have so many incredible police officers protecting us for the inherent right of us to gather here as proud Jews, to host the President of the only Jewish state on earth without any harassment and disturbance. And I say to all those protesters outside, go protest in front of the Iranian embassy, or whichever embassy. They killed and butchered around 50,000… thousands of their own people, operating a whole machine of an empire of evil against us. We the State of Israel, which is protecting the free world, literally protecting the free world and its values, by combating this empire of evil.”
His message to the Australian Jewish community was to “Keep your Jewish hearts on your sleeve and wear your Zionism with pride.”
“You do not be afraid to show who you are. Do not hide your Australian Yiddishkite or your enthusiastic communal engagement… The resolve and solidarity of this community are the key to the future we all share in,” he said.
“I can now say that while we came to give strength (chizuk) to all of you, we leave more strengthened than before. We came to offer inspiration, and we depart for Jerusalem, inspired and energised. We came to remind you that you are not alone here in the diaspora, and we leave understanding more than ever before that we have each other.”
The President concluded, “So friends with all the pain and agony of so many bereaved families in Israel and here, let us carry and grow together. Let us go together from strength to strength.”
Zionism Victoria president Elyse Schachna thanked the President for his speech.
“President. Herzog, thank you for your words and your presence here this week. Israel is not peripheral to the Jewish story. It is the centre of its gravity. Jewish life beyond Israel does not replace that centre. It orbits. Its diaspora communities carry Jewish life outward into the world, but always tethered to the same historic and spiritual core. Your presence here reinforces that bond. It reminds this community that we stand with one global Jewish story, bound by responsibility, sustained by peoplehood and carried by hope.”
Schachna introduced Bondi survivor Chavi Bloch Israel who shared her harrowing account of the Chanukah massacre, and how she used her body to shield her baby from bullets.
“I survived the Bondi terrorist attack, but I did not walk away untouched. I am a new version of myself, but this event has not defined me. It has not traumatised me for life. It has just reinforced how much more I have to live for, how much more light I need to shine,” she said.
“How I need to make this world a better place, and increase in acts of goodness and kindness. I am fuelled with renewed purpose, more driven than ever to continue the grassroots organisation that I started post October 7, the Empowered Jew. I will not abandon my community. I will try my best to uplift, empower and strengthen it and be a living example of what it means to be a proud Jew.”
Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan thanked President Herzog and First Lady Michal for “bringing that light when at times the darkness has felt overwhelming.”
The Premier acknowledged the climate of resurgent antisemitism, “This visit comes in the aftermath of this country’s worst terrorist attack on December 14. Australians watched in shock that such horror would unfold here and when Chavi [Israel Bloch] and I met, she told me something she was shocked that she and her baby were at Bondi Beach, but not shocked that it had happened. Jewish Australians have consistently warned of the rising threat of antisemitism. We heard your stories how your daily life was changing. We saw it in December 2024 at Adass, and we saw it again on Bondi Beach in December 2025 when 15 innocent lives were taken. As leaders and governments, we take responsibility. Your warnings were clear.
“And now, Mr. President, as your father once said, ‘The living here have no right to forget’. We will not forget. And in Parliament last week, I said something I believe deeply the anger that Jewish Australians feel is not a sign of division. It is a sign of love, because it comes from the conviction that our country must be safe for one another, antisemitism shatters that conviction because it makes safety conditional. And when it is conditional for one, it is conditional for all. Antisemitism diminishes everyone. It says to ordinary Australians, even to some of our greatest Australians, that they are not welcome, and the true measure of any great nation is whether its people feel safe enough to be their best and free enough to contribute in full.”
Zionist Federation of Australia CEO Alon Cassuto thanked Premier Allan for her words, “Thank you for your words today, words of friendship, words of strength, words that matter. You stood with us in the days after Adass, we were in that room together in shock. You stood with us in the days after Bondi. You came into our shules, you came into our communities, into our homes, and you mourned with us. You did not watch from a distance. You stood beside us, and today, you did something very, very important and very special. You gave us your full commitment and every assurance needed for this event to take place safely and with dignity… We feel it, we see it, and we are deeply grateful.”
Victoria Leader of the Opposition Jess Wilson addressed President Herzog:
“President Herzog, I recognise how important your visit is here to the community in Australia, it matters, not only diplomatically, and not only because of what happened in Bondi just two months ago. But because the bond between Victoria’s Jewish community and the state of Israel is deep and enduring. For many in this room, Israel is not simply a nation overseas. It is where your family lives, where your faith lives, and where your history lives, I share the disappointment you must feel that your visit has been met by protests and violence. But I want to focus on the fact we are here today to remember and reflect and to do what the Jewish community does best, to be together in unity despite unimaginable horror and grief.”
She then spoke to the Jewish community: “To the members of our wonderful Victorian Jewish community who are here with us today. This is my commitment to you. I will work every single day to make sure you are able to live, work, worship and learn in peace and safety.
“That you can be proud and public about who you are and what you believe in, and that you will thrive, not just survive and when you missed your concerns, my team and I will not dismiss them out of hand with hollow platitudes.”
Wilson said she understood that the Jewish community wanted not only security but action so that security would not be necessary.
“When I have spoken to leaders and members of the Jewish community, many of whom are in the room today, they have told me that they do not want higher walls and tighter security. Unfortunately, these things might be necessary in the short term, but we cannot put a ring fence around the Jewish community and expect the more fundamental poison of antisemitism to simply go away of its own accord. Part of solving this problem is acknowledging one exists, and we must be honest with ourselves. Antisemitism has become normalised in our country over the past two years.
“It is perhaps an indictment that I feel the need to say the following Jewish Australians are Australians. You deserve to be able to fully participate in Australian life free from violence and persecution. Jewish mothers should not have to walk past armed guards to drop their kids at school. Jewish families should not have to walk past armed guards simply to attend synagogue.
“Circumstances in Australia in 2026 I know how tired you all are of being on the front page every day. How tired you are of how normalised antisemitism has become, how tired you are of being forced day in day out to defend your religion, your culture, your nation, of having the centuries old and profound connection of your faith to the land of Israel dismissed and derided.
“You have all been saddled by a huge burden for over two years, yet I am constantly in awe of the continued spirit of generosity and warmth of the Jewish community. I know that, President Herzog, visit sends a message of solidarity to Jewish Victorians that you are seen, you are connected and you are not alone. President Herzog, thank you for being here.”
The event hosted by the Zionist Federation of Australia and other Jewish organisations, marked a central public engagement of President Herzog’s Australian program and a pivotal moment of solidarity following the Bondi terrorist attack, and in the wake of rising antisemitism.
The event also included moving musical performances in Hebrew and English by local talent including Ari Jacob and Rita Satch.
President Herzog has now officially concluded his visit to Australia and will return to Israel.
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