‘How can this individual be here?’ Coalition grills Labor over Palestinian visa holder with family terror links
Labor has been grilled over how a man was granted a visa to Australia despite previously hosting a meeting of terror group political leaders and having multiple family members connected to the same organisations.
Labor has defended granting an Australian visa to a Palestinian man with multiple family members linked to listed terror groups, who also once shared a social media post mourning a terrorist leader as “a knight of a man”.
The federal government was grilled by the Coalition during Question Time on Wednesday over how artist Fayez Elhasani had passed the character test in the Migration Act to gain a visa to Australia.
The opposition has criticised the vetting process after News Corp reported Mr Elhasani had in 2019 hosted a meeting of political members of terror groups when he was director-general of the Rawasi Palestine Institute — an art, culture and communications organisation in Gaza.
It can also be revealed in January 2018 the Rawasi Centre co-hosted with the Palestinian Ministry of Culture a symposium attended by people including senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan and Ahmed Al-Mudallal from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — both listed terror organisations in Australia.
Then in 2020, Mr Elhasani re-shared a Rawasi post on Facebook mourning the death of Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, who was leader of the PIJ and in 2006 appeared on the FBI’s “most wanted terrorists” list, as a “knight of a man”.
When repeatedly asked about Mr Elhasani’s case during Question Time, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese deferred to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who said the visa process for people coming from Palestine had been “exactly the same for everyone”.
“The engagement with the security agencies has been the same the whole way through,” Mr Burke said.
Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan asked if Mr Albanese could guarantee his government had not granted a visa to “any individual from the terrorist controlled Gaza … who has links to a terrorist organisation”.
Mr Burke answered by quoting ASIO director-general Mike Burgess, who previously said: “if you think terrorism is okay, if you think the destruction of the state of Israel is okay, if you think Hamas and what they did on 7 October is okay, I can tell you that is not okay and from a security assessment point of view you will not pass muster”.
Mr Tehan responded: “How can this individual be here, given the advice?”
Mr Elhasani, who settled in Sydney after losing ten of his family members in an Israeli missile strike following the October 7 Hamas terror attack, had three deceased brothers and two sons who had been active members of the PIJ or other banned groups.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the organisation was “deeply concerned” by the revelations.
“Our security agencies have rightly taken the position that a person who likes a tweet in support of terrorism would fail their security screening,” he said.
“But this individual has been granted a visa after publicly and proudly hosting events ... (attended by members) of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and terrorist organisations.”
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said he could not “understand” how Mr Elhasani’s visa would be approved given the character test requirements.
He also accused Mr Burke of taking a “nothing to see here” approach on the matter, describing that as a “deriliction” of his duty as Home Affairs Minister.
‘HOW CAN THIS INDIVIDUAL BE HERE?’: COALITION GRILLS LABOR
Labor has been grilled over how a Palestinian man was granted a visa to Australia despite having previously hosted political leaders of listed terror organisations and having multiple family members connected to the same groups.
Anthony Albanese was repeatedly asked in Question Time on Wednesday about the circumstances around the arrival of artist Fayez Elhasani to Australia, with the Opposition arguing his alleged links to groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – both listed terror organisations – should have been security red flags for the visa character test.
Mr Elhasani, who arrived in Sydney after losing ten of his family members in an Israeli missile strike following the October 7 Hamas terror attack, had three deceased brothers and two sons who had been active members of the PIJ or other banned groups.
While living in Gaza, Mr Elhasani was the director-general of the Rawasi Palestine Institute – which promoted local art, culture and communication – but also during his tenure shared many images and videos supportive of violent attacks on Israel.
The Prime Minister deferred each question from Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, who did not specifically refer to Mr Elhasani’s case, but said the visa process for people coming from Palestine has been “exactly the same for everyone”.
“The engagement with the security agencies has been the same the whole way through,” he said.
Mr Tehan asked if Mr Albanese could guarantee his government had not granted a visa to “any individual from the terrorist controlled Gaza … who has links to a terrorist organisation”.
Mr Burke answered by quoting ASIO director-general Mike Burgess, who previously said: “if you think terrorism is okay, if you think the destruction of the state of Israel is okay, if you think Hamas and what they did on 7 October is okay, I can tell you that is not okay and from a security assessment point of view you will not pass muster”.
But the Coalition has questioned how Mr Elhasani could have passed this test given social media posts showing in 2019 he hosted a meeting and press conference of Palestinian factions, including political members of Hamas, the PIJ and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – all groups listed as terror organisations either by Australia or its allies like the US and EU.
“How can this individual be here, given the advice?” Mr Tehan said.
‘SAME TEST’
Mr Burke also went on the attack, accusing the Opposition of not trusting Australia’s security agencies, and arguing the very same test had applied to the thousands people granted visas to come from terror-controlled parts of Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq under the previous Coalition government.
Mr Burke said the safety “guarantee” his government received from security agencies about all of the Palestinian visa recipients, was the “same” as what was given to Opposition leader Peter Dutton when he was previously Home Affairs Minister and allowed people to come to Australia despite their countries being under the influence of terror groups like ISIS and the Taliban.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the government was responsible to enforcing the character provisions in the Migration Act, which set out broader expectations for anyone wanting to come to Australia than only whether they posed any immediate security threat.
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Originally published as ‘How can this individual be here?’ Coalition grills Labor over Palestinian visa holder with family terror links
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