>>23978158

>>23981329

>>24022907

>>24210131

Wong defends Israeli president visit amid death threats

Kat Wong - February 5 2026

The Israeli president's visit to Australia will help comfort the Jewish community after the Bondi terror attack, government officials say, as a teenager who threatened to kill the leader faces strict conditions on his movements.

Isaac Herzog will touch down on Sunday for a five-day visit, meeting with federal politicians and victims of Australia's worst mass shooting in almost three decades.

Darcy Tinning, 19, allegedly threatened to shoot the Israeli head of state with a pistol and kill US President Donald Trump in a post on X on January 19.

His threat to Mr Herzog included a violent remark referencing extinction, which federal prosecutors said constituted hate speech and risked inciting others with similar views.

A magistrate has ordered the Newtown teenager not to approach or contact Mr Herzog.

Former human rights commissioner Chris Sidoti suggested the Israeli leader should be arrested on arrival for inciting genocide against the Palestinian people.

"Someone who incites genocide does not satisfy the good character test for entering Australia. On the contrary, a person who incites genocide should be arrested on arrival and tried under Australian law and international law for the crime," he wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian.

But Foreign Minister Penny Wong defended the visit, saying Mr Herzog was being invited to honour the victims of the Bondi Beach massacre.

"President Herzog is being invited to Australia … to be with and provide support to Australia's Jewish community in the wake of the worst on-shore terror attack and anti-Semitic attack that we have seen," she told reporters in Canberra.

Pressed on whether the government had received any legal advice on Mr Herzog's trip, Senator Wong said the government "always considers legal advice in relation to our obligations".

Community tensions are running high in the lead-up to Mr Herzog's visit, with protests planned in major capital cities.

Tinning was granted bail under certain conditions that bar him from contacting or approaching either president subjected to his alleged threats.

He is prohibited from leaving his home unless he is accompanied by his parents, with whom he lives.

Magistrate Daniel Covington acknowledged the charges were serious but said the 19-year-old had no history of violence or non-compliance.

The prosecutor noted the threat to Mr Herzog was made amid heightened tensions after the Bondi terror attack in December.

"Unacceptable risks exist which cannot be mitigated if the defendant is released in this climate of political unrest," she said.

Tinning's lawyer, Brendan Green, accepted his client's comments were "completely inappropriate" and could result in significant jail time, but stressed they were not directed at any particular people or group.

The matter will return to court on April 7.

Thousands of Australians are expected to take to the streets in every capital city to protest against the visit, citing Mr Herzog's culpability in Israel's bombardment and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

NSW Labor backbencher Sarah Kaine is among those planning to attend in Sydney.

"Given that he has signed bombs that have targeted civilians and have killed Gaza's children, I don't think it's appropriate," she told AAP on Thursday.

"I understand that the Jewish community is grieving but there is a large population of Palestinians in Australia who are also grieving and this is traumatic for this man to be in our country."

Mr Herzog has previously said Palestinians bore collective blame for Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, before later clarifying his remarks.

A United Nations Human Rights Council commission of inquiry in September found the statement might reasonably have been interpreted as inciting genocide.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9168617/wong-defends-israeli-president-visit-amid-death-threats/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/05/albanese-can-still-withdraw-the-invitation-to-israels-president-he-should-do-so-for-the-sake-of-social-cohesion-ntwnfb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWpoHeUvfOE

>>24175035

>>24180072

‘Motivated by hate’: Perth Invasion Day rally attempted bombing declared an act of terror

Hannah Murphy and Hamish Hastie - February 5, 2026

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A Perth man accused of throwing a homemade bomb into a crowd of Invasion Day protesters was allegedly motivated by racism, hatred and “pro-white” ideologies, as authorities formally declare the incident an act of terror.

The 31-year-old man, who cannot be identified due to a suppression order, was allegedly captured on camera hurling the explosive into a crowd of around 2500 people gathered in Perth’s CBD on January 26 to protest the date of Australia Day.

The device, which police claimed was filled with screws and ball bearings and designed to explode on impact, failed to detonate and triggered police to evacuate the event.

Had the bomb exploded, WA Police and the state government believe it could have caused a “mass casualty event”.

The incident was not immediately declared a terrorist act, with authorities taking nine days to investigate the accused man’s motive behind the attack.

On Thursday, WA Premier Roger Cook, flanked by WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett, and Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy, announced the declaration.

“I can confirm today, the WA joint counterterrorism team comprising WA Police, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO, have determined the incident last Monday in Perth, should be charged as a terrorist act,” Cook said.

“As a result, a 31-year-old man has been charged with one count of engaging in a terrorist act.

“This is the first time this charge has been laid in Western Australia.

“This charge … alleges the attack on Aboriginal people and other peaceful protesters was motivated by hateful, racist ideology.”

The new charge, a result of a joint investigation called Operation Dumfries, carries a maximum penalty of life behind bars.

Blanch said the man’s internet history allegedly revealed he had “self-radicalised” online and accessed “pro-white material”.

Asked whether the accused had links to white nationalist groups, Blanch said: “That ideology was prevalent across his accesses to the internet.”

Blanch said the accused man was not known to police ahead of the alleged attack, but said there may have been signs that family or friends could have spotted.

“My call-out to our community: if you know someone who is saying these things, whether it’s against Aboriginal people or anyone else, and they are accelerating in their hateful views, call authorities. We will take action. We’re not going to wait,” he said.

Barrett said she believed the new charge was the first of its kind in the country where Aboriginal people were the target.

She said the charge was a warning to other individuals and groups espousing hateful rhetoric.

Barrett revealed that AFP national security investigations teams or “hate disruptors” – which are already in operation in New South Wales, Victoria and Canberra – were setting up in WA.

“There are individuals and current and emerging groups across Australia, including in the west, which are eroding the country’s social fabric by advocating hatred, fear and humiliation, that is mobilising towards violence and I am here to put these groups and individuals on notice,” she said.

The terrorist act declaration comes after rally organisers and politicians urged authorities to recognise the seriousness of the incident, as it appeared to be a calculated attempt to harm First Nations people and their supporters.

A motion was also passed in the Senate this week to condemn the attempted bombing, with Senator Lidia Thorpe labelling the incident “an act of horrific, overt hate and racism”.

(continued)

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Blanch rejected accusations that the police did not treat the incident seriously, pointing to the immediate involvement of the AFP and ASIO, and his public commentary after the incident that suggested it was being investigated as a potential terror attack.

“To the people that say it took too long, I disagree with their premise,” he said.

Rally organiser Fabien Yarran, who will meet with Cook and police on Thursday afternoon, said he was still disappointed it had taken so long to declare the incident a terrorist act.

“Everybody, from the grassroots and people that were there, saw it was a terrorist act. It was a hate act,” he said.

“I don’t know why it took them so long.”

McCarthy, who walked through Forrest Place on Thursday morning with Noongar elders, called the incident “an attempted bombing of a peaceful, First Nations rally, led by First Nations, Australians and their allies”.

“What’s happened these past couple of months has certainly highlighted the fact that all of us, wherever we are in this country, need to be vigilant, and we need to deliberately work towards a social, cohesive community,” she said.

McCarthy said there was no doubt in her mind that Australian Federal Police, the WA Police and ASIO, worked immediately to assist to keep Australians safe.

In parliament on Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia stood with First Nations people.

“We will do everything required to keep you and your loved ones safe,” he said.

Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the nation “can never accept a situation where we turn to violence to settle our political differences”.

“These are fragile times for our society and it is incumbent upon all of us in this place to nurture peaceful, civil debate and guard our great democracy against hate and violence,” she said.

Blanch reiterated that the device allegedly thrown at the rally was a live explosive.

“It should have gone off and had a fuse that was lit,” he said.

“Whether it fell out or failed … whatever was looking over the people in that rally that day stopped it from going off, and we should all be thankful that we don’t have deceased or seriously injured people in Western Australia.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke emphasised the catastrophe Australia could have faced had the bomb exploded.

“This is a bomb fitted with screws and ball bearings into a crowd of people rallying in support of First Nations Australians,” he said.

“Think about the number of Australians who were there in a tight space, had it gone the way it was allegedly intended to, we would have been looking at something quite catastrophic.”

The 31-year-old man has already been charged with intent to cause harm and making an explosive device with suspicious intentions. He will formally be charged with the terrorism offence when he next appears in court later this month.

It is the second terror act investigated by WA Police in as many years, after a teenage boy was shot by police when he stabbed a stranger in a car park in Willetton in 2024.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/western-australia/motivated-by-hate-perth-invasion-day-rally-attempted-bombing-labelled-an-act-of-terror-20260204-p5nznz.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwzcsT5Cni8

>>24201399

>>24205958

EXCLUSIVE: That photo of Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre IS REAL and I introduced them, admits Ghislaine Maxwell in damning emails that blow Pizza Express alibi apart

INDERDEEP BAINS - 5 February 2026

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A bombshell email confirms that the infamous photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around his chief accuser was genuine, it emerged today.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had long disputed the authenticity of the image of him in intimate contact with Virginia Giuffre when she was just 17.

And his suggestion that the damning 2001 image may have been faked was central to the defence he tried to put over in his disastrous Newsnight interview.

But today an email came to light from disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell in which she said she was 'stating for the record as fact' that not only had she introduced the former Prince to Giuffre but that the image was taken at her London home that same night.

Her admission, unearthed by the Daily Mail, will come as a major blow to Andrew, leaving his controversial Pizza Express 'alibi' in tatters.

It was made in a series of 2015 emails released in a tranche of more than three million Jeffrey Epstein-related documents by the US Department of Justice last week.

Drafting a statement intended to hit back at reports of mounting allegations in the press, disgraced socialite Maxwell had sent Epstein an email asking for his approval.

'In 2001 I was in London when (redacted) met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew,' she wrote.

'A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family.

'I never asked (redacted) to give him a massage,' her draft statement added.

In the body of the email, she said: 'I am stating for the record as fact' before adding: 'Prince Andrew came to my house to visit me - (redacted) was in the house and they did meet.'

However, she claimed she had 'no knowledge' of Ms Giuffre 'having sexual activity' with Andrew or any other 'famous people'.

Epstein replied saying her statement left 'too many unanswered questions' adding: '?…whats the deal here? why is she there.'

Maxwell insisted that she need the statement 'asap' and that she was advised to say 'I was not aware of massage w/andrew in my house'.

'These thing they have to stay, along w/meeting virginia and rebutting those allegations. I needs it asap.'

In the email headed 'first draft privledged joint defense agreement', Maxwell claims she was compelled to speak out due to the 'salacious claims' against her.

She says: 'The allegations made against me by (redacted) are lies. I have consistently stated that they are untrue and I have waited for an opportunity to prove this in a court of law.'

Seeking to discredit Giuffre, who took her own life aged 41 last year, Maxwell stated: 'The salacious claims she makes are untrue and made purely for financial gain.'

'The relentless media harassment to which I, Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew have been subjected to over the last week has become intolerable and breaches any justifiable sense of natural justice.'

She claims she plans to refer 'both the harassment and the unfair and untrue allegations' to the Press Complaints Commission immediately.

Maxwell, who was jailed for 20 years, for her role in luring underage girls for her former boyfriend Epstein, said she found the allegations against her 'deeply hurtful'.

She concludes the statement saying: 'Finally (redacted) claims she was a sex slave for the rich and famous, however the reality is that working as a waitress in a burger bar.'

The emails were written days after Ms Giuffre first launched her bombshell legal claim in the US in January 2015 accusing Maxwell of recruiting her as a 'sex slave'.

Allegations that she was forced to have sex with the former prince were central to her case.

The correspondence directly contradicts repeated denials about the meeting in London ever taking place, with both Andrew and Maxwell trying to cast doubt over the image's authenticity.

(continued)

>>24218894

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In a statement today Virginia Giuffre's family said: 'Today, our sister Virginia Roberts Giuffre is vindicated again. The DOJ released this email from Ghislaine Maxwell in which she admits that she introduced Virginia to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and that the infamous photo of them is real and was taken in her flat.

'We reiterate that Virginia was a truth teller. Despite the death threats and smear campaigns against her, Virginia never wavered. She remembered what she had experienced and by whom, documented it, and reported it to the authorities. Four of the abusers she named are now in prison, dead, or have become pariahs. We are hopeful that Andrew will face criminal charges.

'We would like to note that in the new Epstein files that the DOJ released last week, there is a sworn deposition from Virginia made in a lawsuit. DOJ did not redact the names of most of the abusers Virginia named, and we wish to make sure that this is known. We are hopeful that more of her abusers’ names will be released in future Epstein files from the DOJ and/or Epstein’s estate.

'We will not rest until the whole truth is out and Virginia’s abusers have been held accountable.'

In Andrew's disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview, he famously claimed he was not at Maxwell's home but at a Pizza Express in Woking.

'I was with the children, and I'd taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of 4pm or 5pm in the afternoon,' he said.

When asked why he would remember a meal at Pizza Express 18 years later, he said: 'Because going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do, a very unusual thing for me to do…

'I've only been to Woking a couple of times and I remember it weirdly distinctly,' he claimed.

Andrew and his allies have long sought to cast doubt over the authenticity of the image, which shows him holding Ms Giuffre, then 17 and known as Virginia Roberts.

Despite claiming they never met, the former duke paid Ms Giuffre millions to settle a civil sexual assault claim in 2022.

Maxwell, too, dismissed the image as fake in an interview from prison, while those close to Andrew insisted his fingers were 'chubbier' and he was taller than depicted.

The convicted associate of paedophile Epstein also claimed in interviews with the US DoJ that she had no recollection of the pair meeting in her home.

The picture was unearthed by The Mail on Sunday as Ms Giuffre insisted, she slept with Andrew in London - a claim the disgraced ex-prince has vehemently denied.

Ms Giuffre said convicted paedophile Epstein took the photograph on a disposable camera before the group went to dinner and then Tramp nightclub.

She claimed was forced to have sex with Andrew that night at Maxwell's house as well as at Epstein's home in Manhattan and on his private Caribbean island of Little St James.

The latest revelations will heap fresh humiliation on Andrew's embarrassing ties to Epstein - links that have already seen him stripped of his titles.

In addition, he and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, have been forced out of the Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate, where they have lived for more than two decades.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15527893/That-photo-Andrew-arm-Virginia-Giuffres-waist-REAL-Ghislaine-Maxwell-admits-damning-emails.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIG8l_2wcsM

https://www.justice.gov/epstein

https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00866954.pdf