Australia cancels visa of British-Israeli influencer for 'spreading hatred'
Australia has cancelled the visa of a British-Israeli influencer who advocates banning Islam, saying it will not accept visitors who come to spread hatred.
Sammy Yahood, who has 171,000 followers on Instagram, has said that Islam is a “disgusting ideology”. His visa was cancelled three hours before his flight was scheduled to leave Israel. The influencer was scheduled to speak at several events and run self-defence workshops in Australia.
The Australian home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed he had cancelled Yahood's visa on Monday evening, saying that “spreading hatred is not a good reason to come”.
“If someone wants to come to Australia they should apply for the right visa and come for the right reason,” Burke told the Guardian Australia in a statement.
Yahood is a volunteer instructor in Krav Maga, a martial art developed by the Israeli military. He grew up in London and recently moved to Israel.
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In response to the decision, Yahood took to social media to call Burke a “tyrant” and reiterated his comments on Islam.
“I have been unlawfully banned from Australia, and I will be taking action,” he wrote on X, as he praised the United Arab Emirates for welcoming him.
“Islam ACCORDING TO ISLAM does not tolerate non-believers, apostates, women's rights, children's rights, or gay rights,” Yahood wrote.
The influencer also said in a previous video that “we've been tolerant to those who were not tolerant to us for too long”, and told his followers to be “ready to defend yourself physically, if necessary”. He has called for Ilhan Omar, the Muslim Somali-American congresswoman, to be deported from the US.
The conservative Australian Jewish Association “strongly condemned” the decision to cancel Yahood's visa.
Australia has recently passed the strongest federal hate speech laws in its history after the mass shooting at a Jewish festival at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
The law allows the government to list groups that incite hatred or communal violence, deport associated individuals, and increase penalties for hate crimes and leaders who incite violence.
Australia previously cancelled the visa of far-right Israeli MP Simcha Rothman after accusing him of seeking to “spread division” in the country, and revoked the visitor visa of the Israeli-American activist and tech entrepreneur Hillel Fuld over his “Islamophobic rhetoric”.
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