Bolt: Cancelling Israeli influencer’s visa shows Albanese Govt is an enemy of free speech

The Albanese Government has banned an American Jew over his rejection of Hamas propaganda. Sure, his opinions might upset Muslims, but how dare Labor stop Australians from hearing his side of the debate.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has stopped Hillel Fuld from coming to Australia. Picture: Gary Ramage

The Albanese Government is an enemy of free speech, now banning an American Jew who rejects Hamas propaganda.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has stopped technology expert Hillel Fuld from coming here to raise money for Magen David Adom, Israel’s Red Cross.

Burke, whose seat of Watson is 35 per cent Muslim, accused Fuld of “Islamophobic rhetoric” and “denying documented atrocities” in social media posts – only two of which Burke quotes.

These posts, Burke claims, were “received by members of the Islamic community as inflammatory”, and were likely to “increase hatred” of Muslims.

In short: Muslims don’t like this Jew saying things, so his visa is cancelled. Just as Burke banned former Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.

Worse, nowhere in the reasons Burke gives for banning Fuld does he prove Fuld’s “Islamophobic” posts false.

The first post is from March last year, commenting on what Burke claims were “reports by many reliable news sources that at least 112 Palestinians had been killed and more than 750 wounded after Israeli troops opened fire on hundreds waiting for food aid”.

Former Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked was also stopped from coming to Australia. Picture: Supplied

Fuld wrote: “There was no massacre of Palestinians in Gaza today … Palestinians trampled each other as they fought for the aid that the IDF sent in knowing that Hamas was going to steal it … In parallel, a Palestinian mob tried to attack IDF forces who proceeded to shoot warning shots in the air and when the mob didn’t stop, the IDF fired at their legs.”

Burke’s account is essentially based on claims of the Hamas terrorist group which runs Gaza, even though Hamas repeatedly lies to damn Israel.

Fuld’s account is based on claims of the Israel Defence Force.

Who’s telling the truth is unclear, but Burke clearly prefers to trust Hamas.

Yet Israel in its defence released video showing Palestinians swarming the aid trucks, and CNN showed Israeli tracers in the pre-dawn confrontation being fired into the air.

I don’t doubt Israeli troops shot Palestinians, but how the tragedy unfolded and how many were killed remains highly contested, with the BBC reporting that “al-Awda hospital, where many of the dead and injured were taken”, said it received 142 people with bullet injuries and around 34 injured “from the stampede”.

That’s a long way short of Burke’s claim of Israelis killing 112 Palestinians and wounding about 750, yet he’s banned Fuld for decrying Hamas “propaganda”.

Burke then quotes a post from Fuld last January, but without saying which of Fuld’s 21 points in it are wrong and “Islamophobic”.

I’ll guess. In point one, Fuld said up to 15 per cent of the world’s Muslims were “radicalised”, so “to call the fear of Islam, Islamophobia, when phobia is an irrational fear of something, is ridiculous”.

Hillel Fuld has been banned from coming to Australia.

But the data backs Fuld. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey asked Muslims in 39 countries whether they wanted Islamic sharia law. Responses varied from a 99 per cent “yes” in Afghanistan to 8 per cent in Azerbaijan.

Last year, a JL Partners poll found 29 per cent of British Muslims had a “very positive” or “somewhat positive” view of Hamas. In 2013, France’s leading pollster found 19 per cent of French Muslims backed Hamas.

In Point 6, Fuld argues that “differentiating between Gazans and Hamas is at best inaccurate”, given “Gazans elected Hamas, and a vast majority of them support October 7”.

He says “at the very least, they are comparable to the Germans in Nazi Germany”, and “no one debated the legitimacy of World War II by saying that there were innocent Germans in Germany”.

Confronting, yes. But in May, the reputable Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that despite Israel’s massive retaliation eroding support for Hamas, 57 per cent still backed it, and 50 per cent thought the October 7 was a good idea.

In point 10, Fuld mourned that “tragically, it is not safe to assume that all children in Gaza are innocent”, given “children are taught from age zero that murdering a Jew is the highest accomplishment in life, and so often times, Arab terror … is carried out by children”.

Again, I’ve seen videos over two decades of Palestinian children indeed telling interviewers “we have been taught that the Jews kill our children” and “stabbing and trampling Jews brings respect to the Palestinians”. The terrorist who fatally stabbed Fuld’s own brother was just 17.

Yes, Fuld’s opinions could upset Muslims.

But how dare Labor stop Australians from hearing both sides of this debate, by banning a speaker with facts on his side?

Originally published as Bolt: Cancelling Israeli influencer’s visa shows Albanese Govt is an enemy of free speech