President Isaac Herzog said Thursday that antisemitism in Australia is “frightening” but that most people want good relations with the Jewish community, on the final day of a visit that was met with protests.
Herzog’s tightly policed four-day visit to Australia this week was meant to offer consolation to the country’s Jewish community following December’s mass shooting targeting a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach in which terrorists killed 15 people.
But it faced anti-Israel demonstrations in major cities, including in Sydney, where police used pepper spray on protesters and members of the media during scuffles in the city’s central business district.
Ahead of a visit on Thursday to Melbourne, Herzog told Channel Seven’s Sunrise a “wave” of anti-Jewish hatred in Australia had culminated in the December 14 Bondi killings.
“It is frightening and worrying,” he said. “But there’s also a silent majority of Australians who seek peace, who respect the Jewish community, and of course, want a dialogue with Israel.”
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The head of state said he had brought a “message of goodwill to the people of Australia.”
“I hope there will be a change. I hope things will relax,” he said.
Protesters against Herzog’s visit began turning out in force in Melbourne around 5 p.m. local time.
Ahead of the president’s arrival, graffiti calling for Herzog’s death was found on a building at Melbourne University, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Protesters interrupt traffic as they block an intersection during the visit President Isaac Herzog in Melbourne on February 12, 2026. (MARTIN KEEP / AFP)
The graffiti on the side of a building read “Death to Herzog + Israel + Oz,” the latter a nickname for Australia, and included an inverted triangle, which has become a pro-Hamas symbol following its use to mark targets in the terror group’s propaganda videos. The graffiti was later removed.
‘DEATH TO HERZOG’ graffiti appears on University of Melbourne wall as Israeli president wraps up Australia visit pic.twitter.com/n6nkXX6LnX
— Universal News (@universalnewsx) February 12, 2026
“Racism, hatred and violence have no place in our society or our nation,” a spokesperson for the university said, according to the ABC report. “We became aware of the offensive graffiti on the edge of our Parkville campus this morning and immediately sent cleaners who swiftly removed it.”
The Australasian Union of Jewish students said it was “deeply disturbed” by the graffiti.
“Calls for violence against any individual or nation are not ‘legitimate criticism’ of government policy,” the group said in a statement. “They cross a clear moral and legal line and have no place on a university campus.”
AUJS urged the university to probe the incident and find the culprits.
“At a time when Jewish students already feel unsafe on campus, incidents like this only contribute to a hostile and intimidating environment,” it said.
Protesters react towards police officers as they cordon off a venue during the visit of President Isaac Herzog in Melbourne on February 12, 2026. (MARTIN KEEP / AFP)
Protesters cite a United Nations Commission of Inquiry that last year claimed that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Herzog, incited these acts — accusations that Israel called scandalous.
“Our message to all Australians is simple: the time to march is now. For all the Palestinians who have been killed, for all those still alive but starving,” said Jasmine Duff of Students for Palestine, a group that planned to protest outside one of Melbourne’s main railway stations on Thursday evening.
Israel denies accusations of genocide and war crimes, saying its military actions in Gaza, sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in the south of the country, are targeted at terror groups, which it accuses of using the civilian population as human shields.
Many Jewish Australians have welcomed Herzog’s trip.
“His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community,” said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community’s peak body.
Some in the community disagreed, with the Jewish Council of Australia, a fringe anti-Zionist Australian Jewish group, saying he was not welcome because of his alleged role in the “ongoing destruction of Gaza.”
Herzog was visiting Australia this week following an invitation from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the aftermath of the December 14 Bondi Beach killings.
Police officers cordon off a venue as protesters gather during the visit of President Isaac Herzog in Melbourne on February 12, 2026. Hebrew slogan reads ‘You are a war criminal with blood on your hands.’ (Martin KEEP / AFP)
The president met Albanese in the capital Canberra on Wednesday, where the prime minister pressed him for criminal charges to be filed over the killing of an Australian aid worker in a 2024 IDF airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found last year that Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians — “an entire nation” — were responsible for the Hamas attack on Israel. Herzog has said his remarks were taken out of context, that he also stressed the need to prevent innocent civilians from being killed in Gaza, and that his comments were being used in a form of “blood libel.”
Israel has “categorically” rejected the inquiry’s report, describing it as “distorted and false” and calling for the body’s abolition.
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