'Ridiculous excuse': Hillel Fuld speaks out after Labor cancels visa for Israeli influencer, citing risk of importing 'hatred'

Sky News AU

2 days ago

Israeli influencer Hillel Fuld has broken his silence after having his visa cancelled by the Albanese government, hitting out at the "ridiculous excuse" Labor used to deny him entry to Australia.
Mr Fuld's visa was quietly cancelled by the Department of Home Affairs last week, shortly before he was due to arrive in the country to take part in fundraising events hosted by Magen David Adom Australia - an offshoot of Israel's national emergency medical and blood service.
In a letter outlining it's reasoning for the decision, the department noted multiple posts made by the Israeli influencer denying "documented atrocities in Gaza", as well as his repeated use of "Islamophobia rhetoric".
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke later confirmed the government had cancelled Mr Fuld's visa because: "Australians have a strong view that we don't want hatred from overseas brought here".
However, in an exclusive interview with Sky News' Sharri Markson, the Israeli influencer, who also holds United States citizenship, hit back at the government's reasoning, describing the decision as "a whole different level of crazy".
"Anybody who follows me online knows that my tweets are never violent or discriminatory," he said.
"In fact, the tweet that they quoted first in this document was me denying that there was a massacre in Gaza last week, which we now know there wasn't. So again, it was accurate and something that I'm very, very careful about in terms of my reporting is to be accurate.
"There's no Islamophobia in my tweets, there's not incitement, there is no racism of any kind. It really is just a ridiculous excuse to ban someone who has pro-Israel views."
One of the posts cited by the department in its decision came after widespread reports emerged in March of Israeli soldiers in Gaza opening fire on starving Palestinians looking to access aid, leading to the deaths of more than 100 people.
Mr Fuld dismissed the reports as "propaganda".
"There was no massacre of Palestinians in Gaza today. Palestinians trampled each other as they fought for the aid that the IDF sent in," he said in a video posted to social media.
Israel has denied accusations of a massacre and has claimed some troops fired shots into the air in order to control and disperse a crowd advancing toward them.
Critics of the decision to ban Mr Fuld have argued his stance on the war in Gaza is irrelevant, highlighting his trip to Australia was to support a humanitarian cause.
Warning the decision to ban anyone with pro-Israel views was a "dangerous, slippery slope", Mr Fuld defended his planned visit by explaining he had only planned to discuss Israeli technological innovation.
"The topic of my of my talk wasn't even politics or anything to do with Gaza or anything like that," he said.
"I was there to talk about how Israel and Israeli innovation is changing the world and making the world a better place. What's inflammatory about that?"
Mr Fuld also noted his visa application was made using his US passport, which he suggested made the decision to deny him entry to the country even stranger.
"This is an important point that not many people reported on, which is that I applied for my visa on my American passport. It's really absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I'm Israeli," he said.
"So what they're doing is banning an American citizen from entering Australia, which is a whole different level of crazy."
The Israeli influencer went on to say he had wanted to keep the incident private so it could be resolved behind the scenes, adding he did not want to "throw anyone under the bus as long as it's solved".
However, he revealed discussions with the government had taken a shock turn, with an unnamed official demanding he limit his speech in Australia should the decision be overturned.
"Now is the time to let the world know that this is pure anti-Semitism," he said.
"If you need evidence to that effect, I'll just mention that, again, not something that many people have reported, but I did receive through a channel, not directly from an official in Australia who said to me: 'If we can reverse this, and I can't promise that we can, but if we can reverse this I need you to commit to not discussing your dead brother'.
"Literally, that's what they told me: 'You could come, but you can't mention your brother who was murdered by an Arab kid', and I was like, are you kidding me right now?"
Mr Fuld claimed the exchange was further evidence Australia was "jumping on the bandwagon of all the Jew hatred across the world", before warning the government it's reputation in Israel had been all but destroyed.