US ambassador to Israel steps in after Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke banned Jewish-American speaker Hillel Fuld from Australia
The US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has confronted Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revoked the visa of Israeli-American speaker Hillel Fuld from Australia, sparking an international diplomacy test for the Albanese government.
In a decision statement, Mr Burke cited 'islamophobia rhetoric' which risked inciting discord against Australia's Muslim population.
The appeal to have the decision overturned came hours after the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) called on the Trump administration to intervene in what it called an 'attack' on Jewish Australians.
Mr Fuld, who was set to speak at fundraising events in Sydney and Melbourne hosted by Magen David Adom, an Israeli national emergency service, confirmed he had been barred from Australia 'because of my tweets'.
The Jewish American entrepreneur has more than 176,000 followers on X where he has posted extensively on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
In an email sent directly to the Home Affairs Minister, and obtained by The Australian, Mr Huckabee called Mr Fuld a 'highly respected' US-Israeli who was not a 'threat of any kind' to the nation that barred him.
'Mr Fuld is highly respected member in his community and well known in Israel. While he holds strong views against terrorism and the kind of massacre that occurred on October 7, he would pose no threat to the people of Australia by his actions or words,' Mr Huckabee wrote.
'I fully respect the decision to grant the visa is solely in your hands and you have a sovereign right to make the decision to deny entry to someone you consider a threat to national security (but) I do not feel Mr Fuld poses any threat of any kind.
'I would respectfully request … you would be willing to review his visa application and grant the opportunity to make his brief visit for the sake of the very important charity event for the humanitarian emergency medical service organisation.' — Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) June 8, 2025
In the report on the decision, the Home Affairs Minister said Mr Fuld had used social media to deny 'documented atrocities' and had the potential to use the speaking events to make more 'inflammatory statements'.
Mr Burke seemed to stand by his decision and said he did not want to import 'hatred'.
In a statement to the outlet, the Home Affairs Minister said Australians 'have a strong view that we don't want hatred from overseas brought here'.
'This power has been used repeatedly over many years by ministers. It is currently being tested in the High Court in the Candace Owens matter. Last term, there was bipartisan support for the use of this power. If that is no longer the case, Mr Hastie should say so,' he said.
It came after shadow home affairs minister Andrew Hastie put out a statement on Sunday morning calling for Mr Burke to explain the cancellation of Mr Fuld's visa.
"If there is a new political precedent in the standard for issuing entry visas to Australia, the Australian people should be informed as soon as possible," Mr Hastie said.
Mr Fuld wrote on X on Monday morning and said there was a 'very low chance' the Albanese government would reverse the decision.
'Despite my appeal and diplomatic efforts at the highest possible levels, I have not heard anything back from the Australian government about them banning me from their country for three years,' Mr Fuld wrote.
In a separate post, Mr Fuld said with the coverage continuing to ramp up, it was less likely Mr Burke and the Australian government would reconsider the decision.
'They don't want to seem like they're giving in to the pressure,' Mr Fuld wrote.
On Sunday, Mr Fuld joked about whether he should add 'persona non grata' to his list of labels. On Monday, he added "Banned from Australia" to his X bio.
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Australia will only be able to watch from the sidelines about who outdoes who in that meeting. Laura Tingle is the ABC's Global Affairs Editor.
