SYDNEY—For many members of Australia’s Jewish community, this week’s visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog was a source of comfort after 15 people were killed in an antisemitic terrorist attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December.
To pro-Palestinian activists, the visit was hurtful after two years of fighting in Gaza left more than 70,000 Palestinians dead and the enclave in ruins.
The tensions boiled over on Monday night, when police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed in Sydney’s downtown, in a violent altercation that is rare in Australia. Footage published by local media shows police officers punching a man in a melee on the street. Another video showed officers hauling away people who were kneeling while conducting Muslim prayers.
When asked about some of the videos, Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales state, said “all the circumstances will of course be investigated,” adding that the “police were repeatedly confronted” and that people attempted to breach police lines. Police said Tuesday they had charged nine people with assault and public order offenses, and were in the process of issuing six more people with court attendance notices.
The events show how difficult it is for Australia, which has a reputation for multiculturalism, to find the right balance between fighting antisemitism and allowing for criticism of Israel and democratic protest.
“We really feel that this was a very important and very special trip,” said Rabbi Levi Wolff, chief rabbi at the Central Synagogue in Sydney, who met with Herzog during the visit. He said the protests have been difficult to watch.
“The president of Israel is here not for any political reasons; he’s not here for any policies of Israel,” Rabbi Wolff said. “He’s here as a member of a large Jewish family and here to help bring comfort to mourners.”
Imam Shadi Alsuleiman, president of the Australian National Imams Council, said his organization mourned the loss of life alongside Australia’s Jewish community. But Herzog’s visit is a visceral reminder to Australian Muslims and others of the people killed in Gaza, he said.
“All it has done has amplified divisions,” he said of the visit. “There are so many ways to ease the grief for the Jewish community in Bondi, without having a tin ear for the rest of multicultural Australia.”
Authorities say the Bondi Beach attack during a Hanukkah festival was carried out by a father and son who were inspired by extremist Islamic State ideology. The father was killed in the attack and the son is facing murder, terrorism and other charges. There is no evidence the pair received outside help, authorities have said.
Since then, Australia has tightened laws aimed at fighting extremism as well as gun-control rules. Some Australian states have signaled an intent to restrict certain slogans, including “globalize the intifada.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who many Australian Jews say had not taken threats to their community seriously, also called for a royal commission—Australia’s highest form of inquiry—into antisemitism and social cohesion. That reversed an initial decision not to call for one.
“We’re at a pivotal point,” said Josh Roose, an associate professor of politics at Deakin University and an expert in violent extremism and terrorism. “Antisemitism has absolutely skyrocketed in Australia over the last two years…It’s incumbent on all political parties to not only recognize that fact, but to work together in an attempt to not only tone down the political conversation, but to act to protect the Jewish community.”
A report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said there had been 1,654 antisemitic incidents in the 12 months from October 2024 through September 2025, about three times the total of any year before the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
A restriction on public assemblies in parts of Sydney’s downtown was in place ahead of Herzog’s visit. Police warned ahead of the protest—which happened on the same night that Herzog was addressing a crowd elsewhere in the city—that they would not tolerate any obstructions to traffic or other pedestrians.
Abigail Boyd, a state lawmaker from the left-wing Greens party who was at the protest, said people had gathered in a large square at Sydney’s Town Hall that is frequently used for demonstrations. She said there was a Jewish speaker at the event and other speakers who made it clear it was an inclusive event.
At the end of the speeches, some people expressed a desire to march, which is when the police began to act, she said. Officers blocked off the exits to the square and made a circle around the crowd, she said. Eventually, they moved in.
Boyd said she was thrown by one officer and punched by another. The Muslim prayer group that was disrupted was deep in the square, not on the street, she said. “I didn’t think that in Australia, you could just get attacked by a policeman for not doing anything,” Boyd said.
Authorities defended the actions of officers, saying they wanted to keep the 7,000 protesters away from the event with Herzog, where there were also 7,000 people. Police said the protesters refused a request to stage their protest in another location, where a march would have been possible.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said protesters came out onto the street and began to march on police, not once but twice. “The police did what they needed to do,” he said.
Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com