Australia has revoked the visa of an Israeli social media influencer known for campaigning against Islam, saying the country will not allow visitors who intend to promote hatred.
Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, said on Tuesday that “spreading hatred is not a good reason to come” to Australia, hours after influencer Sammy Yahood disclosed that his visa was cancelled just three hours before his scheduled departure from Israel.
Burke said people seeking to visit Australia must apply for the appropriate visa and enter the country for legitimate reasons, according to a statement provided to the AFP news agency.
Shortly before the visa cancellation, Yahood posted on X: “Islam ACCORDING TO ISLAM does not tolerate non-believers, apostates, women’s rights, children’s rights, or gay rights.”
In the same post, he described Islam as a “disgusting ideology” and an “aggressor”.
Australia recently strengthened its hate crime legislation following a mass shooting at a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, where 15 people were killed earlier this month.
In another recent post, Yahood, who was born in the United Kingdom and is a recent Israeli citizen, called for the deportation of Muslim Somali-American United States Representative Ilhan Omar.
He also mocked the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which coordinates humanitarian assistance for Palestinians and Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Israel last week began bulldozing UNRWA’s headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem, a move condemned by the United Nations and Palestinian leaders, who said it signalled a “barbaric new era” of disregard for international law by Israeli authorities.
Despite the cancellation of his Australian visa, Yahood said he travelled from Israel to Abu Dhabi but was prevented from boarding his connecting flight to Melbourne.
“I have been unlawfully banned from Australia, and I will be taking action,” he wrote on X.
“This is a story about tyranny, censorship and control,” he added in a separate post.
Reports indicate that Yahood’s visa was cancelled under legislation previously used to deny entry to individuals accused of promoting hatred.
Sky News Australia reported that Minister Burke had earlier revoked the visitor visa of Israeli-American activist and technology entrepreneur Hillel Fuld over what was described as “Islamophobic rhetoric”, and also cancelled the visa of Simcha Rothman, a lawmaker from Israel’s far-right Mafdal–Religious Zionism party and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, citing concerns that his planned speaking tour could “spread division”.
The conservative Australian Jewish Association, which had invited Yahood to speak at events in Sydney and Melbourne, said it “strongly condemned” the decision by the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
