Gaza gran Maha Almassri’s family call on their MP Tony Burke to represent their family

The Opposition is demanding to know if Gaza gran Maha Almassri ‘was subjected to proper security checks’ before coming to Australia following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

The family of a grandmother from Gaza arrested by immigration authorities in a pre-dawn raid on her Bankstown home has taken aim at Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, saying they voted for him after “elders” advised them that he was “the best candidate to represent our community”.

It comes as Opposition home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie questioned if the grandmother, Maha Almassri, was subjected to proper security checks before she relocated to Australia following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

Ms Almassri was detained and taken to Villawood Immigration Detention Centre on Thursday after Mr Burke’s department of Home Affairs cancelled her bridging visa, stating she had failed the visa’s “character test”.

Ms Almassri’s family said they had made contact with the 61-year-old at Villawood detention centre and asked for an “effective resolution” to the situation.

“She remains perplexed about the dawn raid,” they said. “We continue to comfort and reassure her that she is in a peaceful country where a fair justice system prevails.”

Gaza grandmother Maha Almassri, who has been deemed a security risk by ASIO and detained. Picture: Supplied

The family also took aim at Mr Burke, revealing they had voted for him on the advice of community elders.

“It was the advice from community elders that Tony Burke is the best candidate to represent our community in the current climate and thus we voted for him,” they said. “We would like to see real representation of our family and an effective resolution to this dilemma.”

Opposition home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. Picture: NewsWire / Valeriu Campan

Mr Hastie said on Friday that Mr Albanese had “serious questions” to ­answer.

“How does the government intend to remove this person from Australia given the minister previously said no one can be sent back to Gaza at the moment?

“Was this individual subject to proper security checks before they came to Australia?” Mr Hastie said.

He claimed the government issued thousands of visas to people from Gaza “before proper security checks”.

It comes as Labor has refused to answer questions about the case.

Mr Albanese confirmed he had been briefed about Ms Almassri, but he refused to clarity what threat she posed “because we don’t talk about national security issues”.

“We assess people on the basis of our national security assessments,” Mr Albanese said. “We do that across the board. We keep Australians safe. That is what we do.”

Documents seen by The Saturday Telegraph state the department was “provided with an Adverse Security Assessment” by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation that “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 Mr Burke’s office on Thursday, where protesters chanted: “Death, death to the IDF”.

A spokesman for Mr Burke said that for privacy reasons, the department would not comment.

Originally published as Gaza gran Maha Almassri’s family call on their MP Tony Burke to represent their family