Activist’s visa nixed after calling October 7 anniversary a ‘good day’

Pro-Palestinian professor Khaled Beydoun has been blacklisted by Australia after the government revoked his visa over the activist’s description of the anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attacks as a day of “considerable celebration”.

A government source, unable to speak publicly about the confidential case, said the American academic flew home after being told his visa was going to be cancelled. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has since officially revoked Beydoun’s visa.

Khaled Beydoun at a rally outside Lakemba Mosque.Credit: Facebook

Beydoun told a Sydney rally on the anniversary of Hamas’ massacre of about 1200 people in Israel in 2023 that the day was “not fully a day of mourning” but also a “good day” because awareness of the Palestinians’ plight had increased in the past year.

Burke said later that day he had ordered a check on the academic’s visa as soon as he heard Beydoun’s remarks. He can cancel visas if he believes a person is “not of good character”.

The Department of Home Affairs warns potential travellers to Australia that one visa cancellation may bar future travel applications and prevent entry to the country.

Beydoun, who has 2.5 million Instagram followers and is an associate professor at Arizona State University, made his comments at a rally outside Lakemba Mosque in western Sydney organised by a group with links to Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

“Today is not fully a day of mourning, today is also a day that marks considerable celebration, considerable progress and in some respects, considerable privilege,” Beydoun said.

“It’s a good day, and we’ve got to mark some of the good news that comes about, that we oftentimes neglect. The level of global literacy around what’s taking place in [Palestine] has exponentially risen.”

Beydoun’s statement was made during a heated national debate about the freedom to protest on the anniversary of October 7, with pro-Palestinian and free speech advocates on one side and Labor, Liberal and Jewish leaders on the other. Gazan authorities say more than 40,000 have been killed in the Israeli offensive since the October 7 attacks.

Burke’s action also came when authorities were on high alert after a small group of protesters waved flags of Hezbollah, a listed terror organisation, at rallies the week before October 7.

Broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf, who was sacked by the ABC for social media posts about the war and is challenging her dismissal, interviewed Beydoun for a podcast in the days before his controversial remarks.

“Khaled amassed his massive following as people turned to his platform and voice to get alternative framing on the conflict than the ones offered by legacy Western media outlets,” she said in her introduction to the interview on The Briefing.

The American academic said the expansion of Israel’s war into Lebanon demonstrated a “very militant Zionism trying to claim as much land as possible” aided by a compliant US realising its footprint in the world was “diminishing”.

Beydoun was contacted for comment. A spokesman for Burke declined to comment.

With Max Maddison

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.