Provocateur Candace Owens denied Australian visa
'We hope the same principled policy will be applied to other extremist propagandists seeking to visit Australia'
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) has welcomed the government denying US far-right personality Candace Owens entry for a speaking tour of Australia.
Announcing she would note be granted a visa, Immigration Minister Tony Burke said this week, “From downplaying the impact of the Holocaust with comments about Mengele through to claims that Muslims started slavery, Candace Owens has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction.”
Calling Owens a “vicious far-right antisemite”, AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said it was the “correct decision” to deny the visa on character grounds.
“We hope the same principled policy will be applied to other extremist propagandists seeking to visit Australia, such as the two pro-Hamas speakers apparently now due to come in January, Shaun King and Mansour Shouman,” he said.
Owens has a history of problematic commentary, including homophobic and transphobic rhetoric.
Post October 7 she asserted that the “Zionist media” was targeting her and that “Zionism” has “polluted American minds”. She also claimed Israel was founded by a “demonic cult” and she has engaged in Holocaust denial.
Jewish groups had urged Burke not to allow Owens into Australia.
ZFA CEO Alon Cassuto said in August, “For the sake of our nation’s social cohesion and the wellbeing of all Australians, we strongly urge Minister Burke to deny her entry into our country.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim said, “The last thing we need to be importing into our country is yet another so-called celebrity who has made racist and bigoted comments about Jews and other vulnerable groups.”
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