Gaza woman living in Sydney detained in pre-dawn raid following ASIO security risk ruling

A rally has sprung up at Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office after the alleged detention of a woman from Gaza living in Sydney.

• PM’s plan to tackle hate

A 61-year-old grandmother from Gaza has been detained following a pre-dawn raid on her Bankstown home after she was deemed a security risk by ASIO.

Maha Almassri, 61, was taken to Villawood Immigration Detention Centre on Thursday, with a Department of Home Affairs letter seen by The Daily Telegraph stating her bridging visa was cancelled on Wednesday as she had failed the visa’s “character test”.

The document states the department was “provided with an Adverse Security Assessment” by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), which said the agency “assessed Ms Almassri to be directly or indirectly a risk to security”.

The document said “taking into account the above information”, Ms Almassri “does not pass the character test” – a claim fiercely denied by her family, who launched a snap rally outside Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office where other protesters chanted “death, death to the IDF”.

The same day, the Albanese government’s envoy to combat anti-Semitism released an overarching plan to deal with the issue, including the potential to screen visa applicants for anti-Semitic views and work to ensure the Migration Act “effectively facilitates visa refusals or cancellations for anti-Semitic conduct and rhetoric”.

The reasons for Ms Almassri’s detention are not known and there is no suggestion that she holds anti-Semitic views.

A crowd of about 50 protesters, including Ms Almassri’s daughter Albatoul and four year-old granddaughter Laila, gathered outside Mr Burke’s Punchbowl office hours after the raid with keffiyehs and Palestinian flags, pledging to camp outside until the 61-year-old was freed.

A snap rally outside the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office in Punchbowl in response to the detention of Maha Almassri. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Albatoul, who looked sombre during the protest, said her mother had arrived in Australia in February 2024, after visiting relatives in Saudi Arabia and being denied re-entry to Gaza.

Ms Almassri’s brother-in-law Soliman Almassri said “no explanation” had been given for her detention, that she was “sick” and “traumatised” after a family member was killed and her Gaza home destroyed in the conflict there.

“She’s an old lady, there’s no reason … what threat to security are they talking about,” Mr Almassri said.

Police watched on as community members chanted “Tony Burke, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide”, and “Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism”.

There’s no suggestion of wrongdoing by family members or supporters who attended the rally.

Protesters making their feelings clear outside Tony Burke’s office on Thursday. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Palestine advocate Mariam Tohamy (left) and Maha Almassri’s daughter Albatoul Almassri (right) at the snap rally. Picture: Jonathan Ng

A spokesman for Mr Burke said, “The government will not be commenting on this cancellation”.

“Any information in the public domain is being supplied by the individual and is not necessarily consistent with the information supplied by our intelligence and security agencies,” he said.

“The Australian government doesn’t stop investigating new information about a visa-holder just because they are onshore.

“Our security checks never stop and this cancellation is proof the system is working.

“There is nothing more important to this government than the safety of the Australian community.”

The documents state the visa cancellation was “personally” decided by Assistant Immigration Minister Julian Hill, who was contacted for comment.

It’s understood the decision to revoke the review could be judicially reviewed through the federal or high courts.

Originally published as Gaza woman living in Sydney detained in pre-dawn raid following ASIO security risk ruling