>>23921099

Families of Australian diplomats ordered to evacuate Israel, Lebanon

LYDIA LYNCH - 26 February 2026

The families of diplomats in Israel and Lebanon have been ordered to evacuate while all other Australians have been urged to leave while they can as Donald Trump continues to weigh strikes against Iran and his Vice-President warned Tehran to take threats of military action “seriously”.

With America assembling its largest deployment of war power in the Middle East for decades, amid growing fears of a wider regional conflict, the federal government on Wednesday night ordered the departure of the families of Australian officials posted to Lebanon and Israel.

Other Australians in those countries have been urged to “consider leaving while commercial options to depart are still available”.

“Voluntary departures” have also been offered to families of diplomats posted to Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

“We continue to advise (to) exercise a high degree of caution in these destinations,” the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned in a social media post on Wednesday night.

“The security situation in the Middle East is unpredictable. Regional tensions remain high and there continues to be a risk of military conflict. Conflicts in the Middle East could result in airspace closures, flight cancellations and other travel disruptions.”

A “do not travel” declaration remains in place for Iran. The Australian government shuttered its embassy in Tehran in June and evacuated all officials and dependants.

Mr Trump threatened military action against Iran last month in response to the Islamic regime’s brutal and deadly crackdown on protesters. The US President has since reignited warnings of a strike unless Iran agrees to make a deal on its nuclear program.

A third round of indirect nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran, mediated by Oman, was scheduled to start in Geneva on Thursday.

The US announced a fresh round of sanctions on Wednesday, targeting more than 30 individuals, entities and vessels said to be enabling “illicit Iranian petroleum sales”, as well as its weapons production.

Vice-President JD Vance on Thursday AEDT warned Iran to take Washington’s threats of military action “seriously”.

“You can’t let the craziest and worst regime in the world have nuclear weapons,” he told Fox News.

“The President has a number of other tools at his disposal to ensure this doesn’t happen. He’s shown a willingness to use them and I hope the Iranians take it seriously in the negotiations tomorrow because that’s certainly what the President prefers.”

In his State of the Union address on Wednesday AEDT, Mr Trump said his preference was to “solve this problem through diplomacy”, but warned he would never allow “the world’s number one sponsor of terror” to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“We are in negotiations with them, they want to make a deal but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon’,” he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he was hopeful ahead of Thursdays talks as the Tehran delegation departed for Geneva.

“We see a favourable outlook for the negotiations,” Mr Pezeshkian said in a speech. “We are continuing the process under the guidance of the Supreme Leader so that we can move beyond this ‘neither war nor peace’ situation.”

The Lebanese government has urged Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah not to get involved if any fighting erupts between the US and Iran, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji said on Tuesday, expressing concerns about a new possible conflict with Israel.

Speaking to a small group of journalists in Geneva this week, Mr Rajji said Lebanese officials had been warned that in the event of another Israel-Hezbollah war, Israel would strike harder against civilian infrastructure across Lebanon than in the previous round of fighting.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/families-of-australian-diplomats-ordered-to-evacuate-israel-lebanon/news-story/a5f459e1babdc7b74a849b4a5c9984f3

https://x.com/Smartraveller/status/2026588785308528837

https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/middle-east/iran

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>>24300096

Royal Commissioner Bell meets survivors, victims’ families at Bondi massacre site

JAMES DOWLING - 26 February 2026

Antisemitism royal commissioner Virginia Bell has toured the site of the Bondi Beach massacre and met with victims’ families and survivors of the tragedy, providing a private presentation on her inquiry.

The “informal meeting” was held at 10am on Thursday in Bondi Pavilion to discuss why the Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Royal Commission will not be able to directly probe the attack that left them scarred.

In an invitation sent to those affected, Ms Bell said she would “explain the limitations on the approach the commission can take to leading evidence of the circumstances of the attack and to answer any questions about how the commission proposes to go about its work”. She declined to comment when approached before the meeting.

In her opening statement to the first hearing of the inquiry on Tuesday, Ms Bell said she would not hear directly from witnesses or family members of the 15 Bondi victims to avoid prejudicing the criminal trial of the surviving ­alleged terrorist who gunned down innocent Jews celebrating Hanukkah.

“One might expect that a royal commission set up to inquire into an attack would lead evidence of it: of the heroism of those who sought to confront the shooters, and of those who ran towards the gunfire, to offer medical assistance to the wounded,” Ms Bell said.

“This commission must do its work without risking any prejudice to that criminal proceeding. Leading evidence … from people who may be witnesses in the criminal proceeding would create that risk, and for that reason, it will not occur.”

‘The right decision’

Virginia Wynne-Markham, the widow of Peter Meagher said she was “curious to see” what the meeting would bring, while survivor Marc Schwartz told The Australian it was “a great moment for us to get heard by the royal commissioner, and let her hear our experience of antisemitism”.

“It culminated into what happened on December the 14th, but more specifically, telling her what happened before then as well,” he said.

He said the “right decision” was made in carving out direct evidence on the shooting to avoid prejudicing the trial of gunman Naveed Akram, but hoped there would be a chance to share his experience in future.

“I feel like the length and the timing of the Royal Commission could be extended to allow for that,” Mr Schwartz said. “Post-criminal court proceedings, this could be extended.”

Sabina Kleitman, daughter of holocaust survivor and Bondi massacre victim Alex Kleytman, on Monday told The Australian she would ask how Ms Bell will prepare for “toxic information” and submissions from pro-Palestine groups and anti-Israel Jewish organisations such as the Jewish Council of Australia.

Ms Bell on Tuesday appeared to rebuke anyone demanding she broaden the probe away from antisemitism, saying: “Against the background of the massacre of innocent people who appear to have been targeted simply because they were Jewish, I trust everyone will appreciate why the focus of this commission will be on tackling antisemitism as a starting point in strengthening our bonds of social cohesion.”

She revealed crucial security and intelligence evidence that would form part of former spy chief Dennis Richardson’s folded-in probe had been delayed due to key agencies seeking legal advice.

Her meeting with the bereaved and affected comes about six weeks after Anthony Albanese caved to community pressure and announced the federal inquiry in the wake of the beachside attack.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/royal-commissioner-bell-meets-survivors-victims-families-at-massacre-site/news-story/fe93ef42c20e894771173444e7815292

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>>24300096

Fight antisemitism or lose your university registration: Clare

NATASHA BITA - 25 February 2026

Universities will be forced to stamp out antisemitism and other racism as a condition of registration, federal Education Minister Jason Clare has announced.

He said legislation to strengthen the regulatory powers of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency would change the threshold standards “to require universities to demonstrate they’re taking action against ­racism”.

The move comes after the Albanese government’s special envoy, Jillian Segal, recommended in her report last July that universities that failed to act against antisemitism have government funding withheld where possible and grants terminated.

Deploring the “monsters” who killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach in December, Mr Clare demanded universities weed out antisemitism.

“It’s our collective responsibility to do everything that we can, to weed it out and to stop it growing back,” he told the Universities Australia conference in Canberra on Wednesday night.

“People aren’t born antisemitic. We aren’t born hating anyone. It’s something that’s taught, that’s learned. And it’s something that can metastasise into the most terrifying violence.

“We tell our children that there’s no such thing as monsters, but that’s obviously a lie. How else you describe what we saw on our phones in our TVs in December?

“But it’s not just monsters we have to fear, it’s the casual acceptance that some people are treated differently to others.”

Mr Clare said that although Australia was “not a racist country”, that didn’t mean racism didn’t exist.

“It creeps into our campuses, just like it does everywhere else,” he said.

“Look hard enough, and you will see it. Listen carefully enough, and you’ll hear it.

“I’ll never know what it’s like to be discriminated against because of who I am or what I am because of my faith or my accent or the colour of my skin.

“But what I can do, what we can all do, is try to put ourselves in the shoes of people who are.”

Mr Clare said the Discrimination Commissioner’s report, based on surveys of 76,000 university students, was “hard reading”.

“It doesn’t say racism is any worse in our universities than anywhere else,” he said.

“That’s not the point. What it makes clear is we’re not doing everything that we can. Or that we should.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/fight-antisemitism-or-lose-your-university-registration-clare/news-story/9413b6619cc176f22ef0ddaa0b068541

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>>24300096

>>24309785

Julian Leeser accuses university chiefs of failing to stop ‘cascading antisemitism’

NATASHA BITA - 26 February 2026

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University leaders have been branded “quislings’’ to their faces over their tolerance of antisemitism, by the Coalition education spokesman Julian Leeser.

Welcoming the Albanese government’s decision to deny registration to universities that fail to stamp out racism, Mr Leeser said they should be stripped of public funding.

“This is a red-light moment for Australia’s universities,’’ he told the Universities Australia conference in Canberra on Thursday, in his first keynote speech on the Coalition’s higher education policy.

“Both the government and the opposition are telling you today they have lost confidence in you in how you treat Jewish people.

“This is an operating risk, a social-licence risk and a reputational risk to the sector.

“It has been a leadership failure across the country – fix it.’’

Mr Leeser, who is Jewish, said universities had been warned “again and again’’ about rising antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

“You chose to ignore it,’’ he said.

“Instead of listening, following principles, standing up for students and staff under attack, you hid. Quislings!

“I said after the Bondi attack that antisemitism has been festering with three groups: neo-Nazis, radical Islamists, and the cultural Left,’’ he said.

“Think about it: our universities – that stood up for women’s rights, LGBTI rights, and multicultural access to our institutions – now stand condemned by both the Australian government and the opposition for being unsafe places for Australian Jews.’’

Mr Leeser demanded university leaders “step up and lead’’, declaring the massacre of 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach on December 14 was one of the “downstream consequences of failing to deal with antisemitism on campus’’.

“What sort of message does it send when encampments and protests are tolerated for weeks and months?’’ he said.

“What message does it send when the associated harassment and abuse are seen as accepted as part of campus life?

“When you fail to confront people who engage in harassment and intimidation your public standing is diminished.

“It is time to step up and lead.’’

Mr Leeser said university leaders had dismissed the need to take strong measures against antisemitism for too long.

“It includes some people in this room,’’ he told vice-chancellors and university executives attending the conference.

“It’s not okay to be a bystander.

“We have seen encampments and protests where Jewish students have been targeted – blocked from buildings, harassed in tutorials, spat on, and taunted with Nazi symbols, blocked and challenged walking across quadrangles, made to feel unsafe in their own dorm rooms.

“It is not just students – Jewish staff have also been intimidated and their workplaces defaced, occupied, blockaded, even urinated on.’’

(continued)

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Mr Leeser said the Antisemitism Royal Commission must call vice-chancellors to give evidence, and give staff and students “a chance to tell their story’’.

He also demanded all universities adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance of antisemitism, noting that only five universities have adopted it in full.

“The IHRA definition of antisemitism should not be controversial … legitimate criticisms of the State of Israel do not amount to anti-Semitism under the definition,’’ he said.

“It is the definition which has been adopted by the Australian government … but only five universities have signed up.

“The time for ‘yes but’ is over. The time for ‘it depends on the context’ has come to an end.

“Fifteen people are dead – their deaths were the tragic and inevitable endpoint of cascading antisemitism.’’

Mr Leeser said many Jewish Australians felt they were not welcome in universities, and admonished academics and PhD students for “propagating’’ the age-old hatred of Jews.

“We’ve seen academics say that Jews don’t deserve cultural safety,’’ he said – referring to a remark by Macquarie University academic Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, who has an $889,000 taxpayer grant through the Australian Research Council.

Mr Leeser said academics had denied that Hamas terrorists had raped women during their invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Hamas deniers are no different to Holocaust deniers,’’ he said.

“But for academics in places of learning and truth to deny the truth of human testimony and history is to make a mockery of their mission.

“What we have seen on Australian university campuses is the next evolution of a hatred that has endured throughout human history.’’

Mr Leeser said all students should be explicitly taught about antisemitism.

“If we’re not teaching this to the next generation, then we’re setting our society on a course for a future based on conspiracy not fact, on ‘othering’, not personal responsibility, and on social discord, not social harmony,’’ he said.

“What happens on campus today sets the tone for the Australia of tomorrow … this is why addressing anti-Semitism on campus is so important.’’

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare also called out antisemitism on Wednesday, telling universities that they must tackle racism as a condition of registration, through “threshold standards’’ with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/julian-leeser-accuses-university-chiefs-of-failing-to-stop-cascading-antisemitism/news-story/3d8ca1ad680c23d69ca394ace5656b10

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>>24205841

>>24235860

Hash Tayeh’s ‘All Zionists are terrorists’ chant ruled racial vilification

MOHAMMAD ALFARES - 26 February 2026

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A Victorian tribunal has ruled that pro-Palestinian activist Hash Tayeh breached the state’s racial and religious vilification laws by leading the chant “All Zionists are terrorists”, in a landmark decision finding the slogan functioned as a proxy attack on Jews.

At the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Thursday, Vice President Judge My Anh Tran found that Mr Tayeh contravened sections 7 and 8 of the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act after initiating the chant at a Melbourne CBD rally on March 23 last year.

The case was brought by Orthodox Jewish man Menachem Vorchheimer, who told the tribunal that being labelled a “terrorist” was “gut-wrenching and soul destroying to me” “I felt dehumanised. I felt like the lowest of the low,” Mr Vorchheimer said.

He said he no longer felt safe going into the Melbourne CBD on Sundays around the time of anti-Israel rallies.

At the rally, Mr Tayeh took a microphone and, after a speech criticising charges laid against him by Victoria Police for using the chant, yelled: “AS LOUD AS YOU CAN! ALL ZIONISTS ARE TERRORISTS!”

The tribunal found that encouraging thousands of people to chant an “absolute statement” attaching “a heinous label (terrorist) to an undifferentiated group of people (All Zionists)” was conduct calculated to incite hatred.

Judge Tran accepted that “Zionist does not mean Jew”. However, she found there was “likely to have been a very strong association between Zionists and Jewish people in the minds of ordinary rally participants”.

The word “terrorist”, she said, was “one of the most extremely negative labels it is possible to attach to a person” and is a term “more usually applied to Hamas” in the wake of October 7.

“I find the chant was intended by Mr Tayeh to be directed against, at a minimum, all supporters of the continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state. The purpose of the chant thus extended well beyond his claimed purpose of protesting the actions of the current Israeli regime after 7 October 2023.

“In the context of the Rally, the natural and ordinary effect of initiating a chant of ‘All Zionists are terrorists’ among rally participants was to incite hatred against the perceived objects of the chant.”

Mr Tayeh is the founder and former chief executive of burger restaurant chain Burgertory. He resigned as CEO of the company less than a month after being hit with a $1m tax bill for debts allegedly run up by 13 companies.

The ruling also traversed on the broader atmosphere of the rally, noting placards bearing an inverted red triangle (a symbol of Hamas), a sign reading “Death to the Zionist regime” and voices adding to the chant with “Zionists rape children”.

Judge Tran also examined Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni’s rhetoric, including a social media post describing “Israel, Zionism and Judaism – the unholy trinity!” and messaging that portrayed Zionists as manipulating governments, police and media — themes the tribunal said echoed longstanding antisemitic tropes of secret control.

“If a people who belong to a particular race (Jewish people); or religion (Judaism) are stereotyped as holding a ‘political’ belief (Zionism); and hatred is incited against them for that reason, then hatred is being incited against them on the ground of their race or religious belief or activity,” Judge Tran wrote in her ruling.

(continued)

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Mr Vorchheimer welcomed the decision.

“I welcome the decision of Her Honour Vice President Judge Tran that Mr Tayeh’s initiation of the chant ‘All Zionists are terrorists’ breached the law by inciting hatred against Jewish people on the ground of their race or religious belief,” he told The Australian.

“This affirms a principle that should never have been controversial: freedom of speech in Australia is not absolute. It does not extend to serious racial or religious vilification.”

He said he had commenced legal proceedings in 2024 because he feared “that unchecked words would lead to violence”.

“That fear was realised at Bondi, where Jews celebrating Chanukah were massacred — 15 murdered, 41 shot,” he said.

“This case reflects the fragile reality Australian Jews live with — why armed guards stand at our schools and synagogues.

“Silence was not an option.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion described the ruling as “a stunning and complete condemnation of Tayeh’s chant of ‘All Zionists are terrorists, but also, of the hatred that is fomented at these rallies, and which, The judge found was a critical part of the incitement of due hatred.”

Mr Tayeh said he would challenge the ruling.

“I respectfully disagree with the Tribunal’s decision and I will be appealing the finding,” he said when approached for comment.

“My advocacy has always been directed at political ideology and state conduct, not at any race or religion. I have consistently rejected antisemitism and any form of racial hatred.”

“In my view, the decision blurs an important distinction between Judaism as a religion and Zionism as a political ideology. That distinction matters deeply in a democratic society because people must be free to criticise governments and political movements without fear that their political speech will be interpreted as racial or religious vilification.”

The matter has been listed for a further directions hearing on march 25 to determine what penalty will be imposed.

Mr Vorchheimer’s application has asked VCAT to make orders preventing Mr Tayeh from engaging in similar conduct in the future; requiring him to publicly acknowledge this decision and apologise for his actions; and requiring him to pay an amount of $20,000 to a charity of Mr Vorchheimer’s choosing.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/hash-tayehs-all-zionists-are-terrorists-chant-ruled-racial-vilification/news-story/3fb29dbeaa89305190f30c65e7257819

https://qresear.ch/?q=Hash+Tayeh

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>>24305682

>>24305695

>>24305699

China hits back at dance troupe linked to PM bomb scare

Grace Crivellaro - February 26 2026

The Chinese Embassy has condemned a dance troupe which received a bomb threat that forced the prime minister's evacuation from his Canberra residence.

Emails sent to the dance group Shen Yun, which is banned in China, and seen by AAP warned that bombs at The Lodge would be set off if the troupe's upcoming performances went ahead.

Anthony Albanese was subsequently evacuated from the heavily fortified property for three hours on Tuesday while searches were carried out.

"We have noticed relevant reports but have no knowledge with what happened," a Chinese embassy spokesperson said in a statement.

"China always opposes all forms of violent attacks."

The email, in Mandarin, said large amounts of nitroglycerine-laden explosives had been placed around the prime ministerial residence.

"If you insist on proceeding with the performance, then the prime minister's lodge will be blown into ruins and blood will flow like a river," read the email, translated and provided to AAP by the Falun Dafa Association of Australia.

"Of course, if you don't care about the personal safety of the prime minister and other high officials of Australia you can go ahead with the Shen Yun performance."

Shen Yun is a dance group linked to the Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) spiritual movement and is scheduled to perform in multiple Australian cities in coming weeks.

The group passed the threatening email to federal police shortly after receiving it.

The embassy spokesperson was critical of Shen Yun and Falun Gong, labelling the show as a "political tool" used by the spiritual group to "disseminate anti-China narratives and cult ideology".

"This constitutes a distortion and desecration of Chinese culture, and represents deception, manipulation, and harm to audiences," the spokesperson said.

The email was the latest in a series of rising threats against MPs, with the AFP confirming 950 incidents were investigated in 2024/25.

That number was 63 per cent higher than the previous four financial years combined.

A spokeswoman for the Falun Dafa Association said while Shen Yun regularly received threats, the emails were an escalation.

"Recent reports of a death threat directed at Australia's prime minister highlight the dangerous trajectory of (Chinese Communist Party)-linked intimidation tactics," the spokeswoman said.

"When threats extend to a nation's elected leader, this is no longer solely a matter of religious freedom or artistic expression - it becomes a direct challenge to national sovereignty, democratic governance, and public safety."

Mr Albanese thanked police following the bomb scare and urged people to dial down political rhetoric.

"It's just a reminder to take every opportunity to tell people, turn the heat down for goodness sake. We can't take these things for granted. Just turn it down," he said.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9184120/china-hits-back-at-dance-troupe-linked-to-pm-bomb-scare/

https://au.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zagx_0/sgxw/202602/t20260225_11863521.htm