JERUSALEM: Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, says he is looking forward to his visit to Australia which started today with his arrival in Sydney.

Just prior to departing his official residence in Jerusalem for his flight to Australia at the weekend, Mr Herzog took time to speak to The Bug while penning one of his regular messages to Gaza residents. (main picture)

“I am very pleased to be invited to go to Australia to help comfort members of the Jewish community after the Bondi attack, even if it’s at the invitation of the appallingly antisemitic Albanese Government,” Mr Herzog said.

“That’s the same Australian government that has the blood of 15 Jewish Australians on its hands courtesy of its support for recognising a Palestinian state. I mean what else in the past two years could have possibly provoked a rise in antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiment?”

Mr Herzog cut short his interview with The Bug to enable him to finish writing more messages for the people of Gaza.

“I’ll be away from Israel for some days and the Israeli Defence Force has asked if I could leave behind a bit of a stockpile of messages for them to deliver while I’m away,” he explained.

“I really enjoy writing my personal messages to Palestinians unfortunately still alive in…, I mean, to unfortunate Palestinians still living in Gaza.

“And I must say the IDF is very, very dedicated when it comes to delivering my messages. Nothing stops them – not rain, hail, snow, nor ceasefires,” he said.

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CANBERRA: Liberal Party leader*, Ssussan Ley, says part of the negotiations in recent days aimed at reforming the federal coalition involved arriving at an agreed position with National Party MPs on the issue of hate speech.

“This was a significant stumbling block for both parties,” Mss Ley conceded. “But in the end both the Liberal and National parties were able to come to an accommodation.

“Basically it means while we still hate each other’s guts, we won’t speak about it publicly. This represents a sound basis on which we can now move forward,” she said.

* At time of publication

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Queensland LNP Senator James McGrath (below) says coalition supporters should not be alarmed by the historically low 18% support for the Liberal and Nation parties evident in the latest national Newspoll.

While describing the polling as “dire”, Senator McGrath said the figure could change once postal responses to the Newspoll were counted.

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The watchdog overseeing NSW judges and the state’s justice system says it has received “thousands” of complaints following publication of remarks by Chief Justice Andrew Bell critical of comments by former prime minister Tony Abbott.

The Judicial Commission of NSW said the complaints followed a speech on Thursday by Chief Justice Bell (at right below) in which he described criticisms by Mr Abbott (far right and at left below) of a judge’s ruling on last year’s anti-genocide pro-Palestinian march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge as “regrettable”, “misconceived”, evidence of an “ignorance” of the law, and “a form of misinformation”.

Mr Abbott had attacked a NSW Supreme Court judge’s decision in August 2025, saying: “The decision to close the Sydney Harbour Bridge to facilitate this protest is a political decision and should be made by elected and accountable ministers – who, it happens, think the march should not go ahead,” Abbott wrote at the time. “We are on a slippery slope when unelected judges start making political judgements.” (below)

A spokesperson for the Judicial Commission, Dee Cree, said the legal watchdog had never previously received so many complaints as it had about the Chief Justice’s remarks since Thursday.

“Without fail every single one of the complaints has been along the same lines,” Ms Cree said.

“They all take the Chief Justice to task for omitting what every complainant has said is an obvious fact that he should have included in his speech, namely that pretty much all of Mr Abbott’s public remarks before, during, and since holding the office of prime minister have been regrettable, misconceived, ignorant, and a form of misinformation.

“The Commission will need to examine these complaints in line with its statutory obligations, but of course the Chief Justice as chair of the Commission, will not take part in that process,” Ms Cree said.

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