Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said:

“Australia has a long tradition of providing temporary visas and other similar visas and that should continue especially for civilians at risk, but the community needs to be assured that thorough and proper security and safety checks will be undertaken regardless of their origin; that is a basic principle of a robust and viable immigration system.

“The community will want to know who is selecting the candidates for the visas and who is doing the security screening.

“Given that Gaza is a territory whose governing authority is a murderous, listed terrorist organisation in Australia,  detailed scrutiny would seem to be required to ensure Hamas activists and supporters – or even worse, Hamas terrorists – are not inadvertently admitted into Australia.”