Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke explains reasons for blocking visa of former Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has defended rejecting the visa of ex Israeli justice minister Ayelet Shaked over comments she made comparing Palestinian children to snakes, and claims Palestinian-occupied areas of Israel should be levelled.

The right-wing former justice minister was slated to attend the Canberra-Jerusalem Strategic Dialogue, however Mr Burke rejected her application on the grounds she had the potential to “seriously undermine social cohesion”.

Speaking publicly on his reasoning behind the decision for the first time, Mr Bourke said Ms Shaked had not applied for a visa to come to Australia as a visitor or on behalf of the Israeli government, but wanted approval to come to Australia and make public statements, which subjected her to more strict assessment criteria.

“That means we have to have a look at what she said previously. Now I have been refusing a large number of visas … of people who want to come here to talk about the conflict if we think that they are going to seriously undermine social cohesion when they’re here,” he told Sky on Sunday.

Explaining his reasoning, he referenced comments from Mr Shaked in which she compared Palestinian children to snakes, that all Palestinians should leave Gaza, and that areas of Israel should be razed and turned into soccer fields.

“If somebody wanted to come here, and had previously said that they had nominated specific cities in Israel and said they should be completely levelled, I wouldn’t give them a visa to come here and make speeches,” he said.

“Ms Shaked has said specifically that about cities in Gaza, said that one of them should become a soccer field”

He added that the defence of free speech would not be prioritised above preventing hateful rhetoric.

“If there’s one comment I hear all the time, it’s they do not want the hatreds from overseas imported here, and whether those hatreds are demeaning of Israelis or demeaning of Palestinians, I’m going to have the exact same hard line,” he said.

“I hear all the arguments about freedom of speech. My view is really simple. If you’re simply coming here to demean people, we can do without you.”

In response to her visa being rejected, Ms Shaked accused the Australian government of being anti-Semitic, sharing on Twitter: “The issue here is not that I didn’t get a visa. The issue here is that the current Australian government has become anti-Semitic”.

Mr Burke’s comments follow an increasing divide between the Australian-Labor government and the Israeli government, which has prompted backlash from Jewish community groups and the Coalition.

Last week Foreign Minister Penny Wong told parliament Australia would likely detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he travelled to Australian jurisdiction, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

While she didn’t confirm Mr Netanyahu would be arrested, Ms Wong said any decisions would be “informed by international law,” and “not by politics”.

Mr Burke defended Ms Wong’s statement and said Australia had consistently supported the determinations made by the International Criminal Court.

“Penny’s made a comment that she’s made consistently about Australia’s support for international law,” he said.

“Our support for international law is something that used to be bipartisan.

“She’s made that simple statement about an institution that we signed up to under the Howard government.”