Australia cancels visa of Israeli influencer accused of ‘spreading hatred’

Social media influencer Sammy Yahood is known to dispersed Islamophobic contented online.

Australia has cancelled the visa of an Israeli societal media influencer who has campaigned against Islam, saying it volition not judge visitors to the state who travel to spread hatred.

Australian Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke said successful a connection connected Tuesday that “spreading hatred is not a bully crushed to come” to Australia, hours aft influencer Sammy Yahood announced that his visa was cancelled 3 hours earlier his formation departed from Israel.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3Australian writers’ festival apologises to Palestinian writer aft boycott
• list 2 of 3Australian Parliament backs tighter gun, hatred transgression laws aft Bondi attack
• list 3 of 3Australia observes time of mourning for victims of Bondi Beach wide shooting

People who privation to sojourn Australia should use for the close visa and travel for the close reasons, Burke said successful a connection to the AFP quality agency.

Just hours earlier his visa was cancelled, Yahood had written connected X, “Islam ACCORDING TO ISLAM does not tolerate non-believers, apostates, women’s rights, children’s rights, oregon cheery rights.”

He besides referred to Islam arsenic a “disgusting ideology” and an “aggressor”.

Australia tightened its hatred transgression laws earlier this period successful effect to a wide shooting astatine a Jewish solemnisation astatine Sydney’s Bondi Beach, which near 15 radical dead.

In a caller post, Yahood, a autochthonal of the UK and a caller national of Israel, had besides advocated for the deportation of United States Representative Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American, who is Muslim.

In another, helium ridiculed the United Nations bureau for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which is liable for coordinating alleviation for Palestinians and Palestinian refugees successful the occupied West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Israel began bulldozing UNRWA’s office successful occupied East Jerusalem past week, a determination powerfully condemned by the satellite assemblage and Palestinian leaders, who said the flattening of the tract marked a “barbaric caller era” of unchecked defiance of planetary instrumentality by Israeli authorities.

Despite the cancellation of his visa to Australia, Yahood said helium flew from Israel to Abu Dhabi, but was blocked from getting his connecting formation to Melbourne.

“I person been unlawfully banned from Australia, and I volition beryllium taking action,” helium wrote connected X.

“This is simply a communicative astir tyranny, censorship and control,” helium added successful different post.

Yahood’s visa was reportedly cancelled nether the aforesaid authorities that has been utilized successful the past to cull people’s visas connected the grounds of disseminating hatred.

Sky News Australia reported that Minister Burke antecedently revoked the visitant visa of Israeli-American activistic and tech entrepreneur Hillel Fuld implicit his “Islamophobic rhetoric”, arsenic good arsenic the visa of Simcha Rothman, a lawmaker with Israel’s far-right Mafdal-Religious Zionism enactment and a subordinate of Netanyahu’s governing coalition, amid concerns that his planned speaking circuit successful the state would “spread division”.

The blimpish Australian Jewish Association, which had invited Yahood to talk astatine events successful Sydney and Melbourne, said it “strongly condemned” the visa determination by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government.