NSW Labor backbenchers have vowed to attend a Sydney protest against a visit by Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, with one stating he will be attending because Australia should not be welcoming the head of a state engaged in an “ongoing genocide”.
Another member of the government said he was attending – despite the premier opposing rallies – to show that “Bondi was not caused by such protests”.
Labor MLCs Cameron Murphy, Stephen Lawrence and Sarah Kaine said they would attend Monday evening’s rally organised by Palestine Action Group as part of a nationwide protest. But it was not clear whether they would march from Town Hall to state parliament in contravention of a ban.
Chris Minns’ push to prohibit marches in designated areas following the Bondi terror attack is continuing after the NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, extended the restriction for a fourth time on Tuesday.
Lanyon said Herzog’s visit was a factor in his decision. The restriction prevents the authorisation of protests under the form 1 system – which means protesters who march risk being arrested for obstructing traffic, for example.
Organisers of the Sydney protest have said they plan to walk from Town Hall to Macquarie Street despite the route falling within the restriction zone. They have called on NSW police to help facilitate that peacefully.
Murphy said he would attend the rally “because we should not be welcoming to Australia the head of a state engaged in an ongoing genocide”. He told Guardian Australia that Herzog had signed a bomb and had “no regard for international law as an active supporter of illegal settlements”.
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Lawrence said he would go to the rally at Town Hall but would decide on Monday whether to march. He said he would comply with the law.
“I will be attending the rally because I want to make the obvious but important points that peaceful protest is lawful in this country; that Bondi was not caused by such protests; and that inviting the head of a state whose head of government is under ICC indictment suggests we don’t take proceedings seriously,” he told Guardian Australia.
On Tuesday evening, Lawrence said of the police’s decision to extend the ban on marches in certain areas: “I’m just not sure that continually extending this thing to apply it to the visit of the Israeli president is actually going to make us more safe.”
“It could be creating a flashpoint, and it concerns me,” he told ABC radio.
The current protest ban is facing a constitutional challenge. Lawrence, who is also a barrister, raised serious concerns over the hearing being delayed.
He pointed out that the state had agreed the case could be heard on 16 January, but “after the judge on duty spoke to the chief justice, it was then not listed until the end of February”.
“The people who seek to protest have not had the opportunity to have the court rule on it,” Lawrence said.
Kaine said she would attend PAG’s rally, at which she was scheduled to speak. Asked if she would march if that went through the restricted area, she said: “At the moment, my plans are to attend a legal protest.”
“We all just have to be aware that what is legal is nuanced,” Kaine told Guardian Australia, adding she would be attending on Monday evening, “in the light of the discussions around protest that have been going on,” and to object to Herzog’s visit.
“I don’t think we should be welcoming someone to this country who is so heavily implicated in the actions that have resulted in the death of 75,000 innocent Gazans.”
A spokesperson for the Palestine Action Group, Josh Lees, said on Tuesday there had been no safety issues at the near-weekly pro-Palestine rallies held over the past two years. Minns declared on Tuesday that “we just can’t have a riot in Sydney”.
Minns said on Wednesday he had not spoken to MPs who planned to attend rallies during Herzog’s visit. The premier said police were negotiating with the Palestine Action Group about the location of their protest.
Asked if the government was divided over Herzog’s visit, Minns said: “Look, the cabinet’s certainly not.” He accepted there had been division in the wider party “or even Labor MPs … and that’s been the way for a long period of time”.
Minns was asked on Wednesday about the possibility of Labor politicians being arrested under legislation rushed through parliament in December. The premier replied: “I don’t think that’s necessarily the case that that will happen.”
The state Greens MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, said on Wednesday: “If there’s a march, I’ll be marching.
“Neither the premier nor the police commissioner will stop me and the thousands of others who know genocide is wrong – and we have a right to protest.”
Former federal Labor minister Ed Husic said on Wednesday he backed the right of Australians to peacefully protest against the actions of the Israeli government over its bombardment of Gaza.
The MP who marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in August said it was a “slur” to link major protests against the war to the Bondi terror attack.
“I’m obviously very uncomfortable about this visit,” Husic told Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin, has said Herzog’s visit would bring “tremendous comfort to the families” of Bondi victims and “hopefully a reset of the bilateral relationship”.
“Sometimes it takes a catastrophe, a tragedy, to bring a sense of perspective and clarity and bring two feuding partners together,” Ryvchin has said.
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council has said Herzog’s visit was “a powerful message of solidarity and support … following the tragic events at Bondi and the surge of antisemitism across the country”.
A UN commission concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. That commission, which does not speak on behalf of the UN, stated that Herzog, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and then defence minister, Yoav Gallant, “have incited the commission of genocide”.
Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the commission’s report, calling it “distorted and false” and claiming it “relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods”.
Herzog has called the genocide case against Israel in the international court of justice a “form of blood libel” and pushed back on criticism of his 2023 statement that “it is an entire nation out there that is responsible” for the 7 October attacks on Israel.
He claimed he had been taken out of context, and noted he had said in the same media appearance that Israel would respect international law and there was no excuse for the killing of innocent civilians. The ICJ is yet to issue its final ruling.
