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Daily Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Telegraph
Immigration Minister hit with ‘gaslighting' claim after Mona Zahed debacle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. The country's border chief has been accused of 'gaslighting' after downplaying concerns that immigration officials granted a visa to a Hamas sympathiser. Immigration Minister Tony Burke revealed on Sunday that Mona Zahed, who publicly supported Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023, was granted a visa that she was ineligible for. Ms Zahed applied to come to Australia on an entertainment visa rather than a humanitarian option. Senior immigration officials noticed the error after they were alerted to social media posts Ms Zahed made celebrating the October 7 attacks. Due to the wrong visa type, Mr Burke said her application was cancelled 'before we even got to character grounds'. But 2GB host Ben Fordham on Monday blasted Mr Burke's explanation as 'tied up in a whole lot of spin to make it sound like everything's under control'. He told listeners that the minister 'tried to convince everyone that it was a giant misunderstanding'. Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Tony Burke has been accused of 'gaslighting'. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman 'Tony Burke is trying to say there's no problem here, but the problem is, Mr Burke's so-called checks and double-checks didn't stop Mona Zahed from being granted an Australian visa,' Fordham said. Citing reporting, including from NewsWire, Fordham said it did not matter that Ms Zahed was given the wrong visa, but that officials only learnt of her views because of media coverage. 'What is Tony Burke on?' he said. 'Mona Zahed was given an Australian visa – we don't care what type of visa it was. 'Her past support and praise of Hamas did not raise red flags when Australia was checking her application – she was given the visa. 'The only reason the (Department of Home Affairs) found out that there was an issue was because a story appeared in the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne. 'Nobody in authority had any idea, and now Tony Burke tries to reassure us that the system is safe because this woman filled out the wrong form. 'No, minister, you were ready to let her in.' As both home affairs and immigration minister, Mr Burke has oversight of Australia's security agencies and borders, making him one of the most powerful members of Anthony Albanese's cabinet. It also means he controls who enters Australia and is responsible for those vetting visitors. 'Unusual' In comments on Sunday, Mr Burke said Ms Zahed 'wasn't eligible for the visa that had been issued and the department administratively cancelled the visa', calling the application 'unusual'. 'This was someone from Gaza who was not going through the humanitarian visa process that we've got in place, or even for a visitor visa for that matter, but who'd applied on the entertainment stream, where the presumption of that visa is you are coming for a fixed tour, where the tickets are being sold, the dates are all in place, and your intention is then to return to the country you came from,' he told Sky News. 'Now, you can see a few reasons there why as soon as it was brought to … the attention of people more senior in the department, they looked at it and thought, 'Hang on, this individual is not eligible for this particular visa'.' As for the thousands of Palestinians who have been granted visas since the start of the war in Gaza, Mr Burke insisted all approved had been double-checked. He also said only 'about half the people … for whom visas had been issued ended up actually getting here' because of border closures. The figure is unclear, but human rights groups have put it at about 1300. Palestinian woman Mona Zahed thanked Allah after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel in 2023. Picture: Facebook Ms Zahed's visa has been cancelled. Picture: Facebook 'We would have had something in the order of close to 1000 visas where people were trapped in Gaza,' Mr Burke said, adding that those stuck in Gaza had dropped to 'not too much more' than half of that. 'Now some of that will be that people decided they didn't want to come to Australia, some of it will be people (who) found another pathway out of Gaza, some of it will be that those people are no longer alive. 'There's a few different reasons for the reduction in numbers. 'Overwhelmingly now the people who are in that visa group, they had the initial check against the movement alert list. 'We've had (the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) go through everybody on the list twice now, and so they are in fact the most highly checked cohort that we've ever had.' Mr Burke pointed out they 'are still in a situation where overwhelmingly, they're not able to leave'. Ms Zahed has been living in tents with her young family for much of the 22-month war in Gaza – a conflict triggered by Hamas' October 7 attacks. The militant group killed more than 1200 in the unprecedented assault, including whole families. Fighters took hundreds more hostage as they retreated into Gaza, where dozens remain captive. The Herald Sun revealed on Friday that Ms Zahed praised the attack on social media at the time. 'We woke up and got God's kingdom,' she wrote of the worst loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. She made her visa application with the support of Melbourne artist Matt Chun, who claims to have raised tens of thousands of dollars to help Ms Zahed, her husband and four children make their way to Australia. Hamas is a listed terrorist organisation in Australia and the Albanese government has repeatedly condemned the October 7 attacks. Originally published as Immigration Minister hit with 'gaslighting' claim after Mona Zahed debacle
CNN
09-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
LA mayor says ICE raids were ‘fuel for a fire that was unnecessary'
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass joined "The Situation Room," blaming workplace raids by immigration officials in the city on Friday for the increasingly violent protests over the weekend.
