Palestine supporters have turned out across Australia to oppose a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is in the country to commemorate victims of last year’s Bondi Beach massacre.

Thousands of people demonstrated in a square in Sydney’s business district on Monday, with more protests planned in cities and towns across the country in the evening.

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Demonstrators risk arrest if they join a protest march late on Monday, organised by the Palestine Action Group from Sydney Town Hall to New South Wales Parliament, which falls in an area authorities have designated as a special protected area during Herzog’s visit.

Palestine Action Group failed in a legal ‌challenge in a Sydney court on Monday against the restrictions placed on the demonstration.

“We’re hoping we won’t have to use any powers, because we’ve been liaising very closely with the protest organisers,” Peter McKenna, New South Wales assistant police commissioner, told Nine News on Monday.

Herzog speaks at Bondi Beach

The Israeli president began his four-day visit to Australia at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, where he laid a wreath at a memorial for the victims of the December attack, which killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration. He also met survivors and the families of those killed.

“This was also an attack ‌on all Australians,” Herzog said at the site of the attack. “They attacked the values that our democracies treasure, the sanctity of human life, the freedom of religion, tolerance, dignity and respect.”

“I’m here to express solidarity, friendship, and love,” he added in comments to reporters.

In addition to Sydney, where 3,000 police personnel were to be deployed, Herzog also plans to visit Melbourne and the national capital, Canberra, before he returns to Israel on Thursday.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had urged people to respect the solemn nature of Herzog’s visit, saying the Israeli president had “come here in goodwill”.

Herzog alleged the protests against his visit were attempts to “undermine and delegitimise” Israel’s right to exist.

But activists said the Israeli leader, whom a United Nations commission of inquiry has found to be responsible for inciting genocide against Palestinians, should not be immune to protests.

“President Herzog has unleashed immense suffering on Palestinians in Gaza for over two years – brazenly and with total impunity,” said Amnesty International’s Australia chapter. “Welcoming President Herzog as an official guest undermines Australia’s commitment to accountability and justice. We cannot remain silent.”

One protester, 30-year-old Jackson Elliott from Sydney, said, “The Bondi massacre was terrible, but from our Australian leadership there’s been no ⁠acknowledgement of the Palestinian people and the Gazans.”

“Herzog has dodged all the questions about the occupation and says this visit is about Australia and Israeli relations, but he is complicit,” said Elliott.

The Jewish Council of Australia, a vocal critic of the Israeli government, released an open letter on Monday signed by more than 1,000 Jewish Australian ‌academics and community leaders, urging Albanese to rescind Herzog’s invitation.

In September, the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found that Herzog “incited the commission of genocide” by saying all Palestinians – “an entire nation” – were responsible for the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

Since those attacks, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, with tens of thousands of bodies still believed to be trapped under the rubble and uncounted.

Despite a United States-brokered “ceasefire” agreed in October last year, Israel has killed more than 500 Palestinians and continues to impose restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza.