Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that in many cases what is heard and seen at demonstrations in support of Palestine is aimed at undermining and discrediting the right to exist of the Jewish nation.
He made the statement during a memorial ceremony at the site of the terrorist attack that took place in Sydney on December 14, 2025.
“In most cases, what is heard and seen at these demonstrations is aimed at undermining and discrediting our right, the right of my nation, the nation of which I am the head of state, to its very existence,“ he said in response to a journalist's question about the protests taking place in Australia against his visit. “Anti-Semitism here in Australia is not a Jewish problem, it is an Australian problem, and the hatred that begins with Jews never ends with them,“ Herzog stressed.
During the commemoration ceremony, he laid two stones brought from Jerusalem at the memorial, calling them “a symbol of enduring memory, the weight of loss and the indissoluble bond between the living and those we have lost“. “These stones from Jerusalem, the Eternal City, the eternal capital of Israel, will remain here forever as a sacred memorial to the victims and as a reminder that goodness will prevail in the face of terror, violence and hatred,“ Herzog said. He is also expected to hold a series of private meetings with the families of those killed in the February 9 attack.
Unprecedented security measures have been put in place at Bondi Beach and the surrounding area in connection with the arrival of the Jewish head of state. New South Wales Police have restricted access to the area and blocked roads to the memorial, allowing only members of the delegation and specially invited media through metal detectors. Snipers and armed police were stationed on the roofs of buildings, several police boats monitored the situation from the sea, and helicopters monitored the situation from the air.
Around 180 Palestinians have left the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel, since the reopening of the border with Egypt on February 2, Agence France-Presse reported today, quoted by BTA, citing local authorities in the enclave.
Israel has agreed to open the Rafah border crossing – The only exit from Gaza that does not pass through Israel, which has been closed since May 2024, restricting passage only to Gazans and under very strict conditions.
Between Monday and Thursday, 135 people, most of them people in need of medical treatment and their companions, were allowed by Israel to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, while another 88 returned from Egypt before the crossing was closed on Friday and Saturday for the weekend, the press service of the Hamas-run Gaza government said.
"Official figures for crossings through the Rafah border crossing between Monday, February 2 and Thursday, February 5, show serious restrictions on movement," press chief Ismail al-Tawbah told AFP.
The opening of the crossing allowed another 44 Palestinians to cross the border today, including “19 patients and their companions“, said the director of “Ash Shifa“ hospital in Gaza City, Mohammed Abu Salmiya.
This brings the total number of patients since the reopening of the facility earlier this week to 179.
According to Mohammed Abu Salmiya, around “20,000 patients, including 4,500 children“, are currently “in urgent need of medical attention“ in the territory devastated by two years of war.
The UN and aid agencies have been calling for months for the full opening of the border with Egypt as part of US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war between Israel and “Hamas“ to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.