Comedian’s visa sabotaged, war crimes suspects cheered through
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The Israel lobby has tried to sabotage comic Bassem Youssef from entering Australia while the government gives a free pass to IDF soldiers suspected of war crimes. Andrew Brown on the joke that could not enter Australia, and the army that could.
On Sunday morning, before the sun is over Sydney Heads, up to 40 current and former soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces will jog across the Sydney Harbour Bridge with numbers pinned to their chests and a cheer squad waiting at the Opera House.
Bassem Youssef will not be on it. Home Affairs wanted an FBI clearance and a criminal record from Egypt, whose generals forced him into exile in 2014. His passport had lapsed. Cairo took its time. The tour is gone.
Youssef performed here in 2023 and 2015 without a police certificate. He did not change. The lobby did.
In June, Peter Wertheim of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry told the Sydney Morning Herald his organisation had gone to Home Affairs to have Youssef kept out.
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