Australia Cancels Visa Of UK National For Displaying Nazi Symbol Amid Crackdown On Antisemitism

Last Updated:December 24, 2025, 12:44 IST

The government revoked the visa of a British man charged with displaying a Nazi symbol and advocating for violence against the Jewish community on social media platform X.

Australia vowed a crackdown on antisemitism after the deadly mass shooting at Bondi Beach. (Reuters)

Australia cancelled the visa of a 43-year-old British national after he was charged with displaying a banned Nazi symbol, as the country cracks down on antisemitism in the wake of a deadly terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14.

The government revoked the visa of the British man who was charged on December 8 with displaying a Nazi symbol and advocating for violence against the Jewish community on the X platform, according to the Australian Federal Police.

“If you come to Australia on a visa, you are here as a guest," Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “If someone comes here for the purposes of hate, they can leave."

Burke and the federal police did not name the British man but the federal police said he displayed the Nazi Hakenkreuz – a type of swastika – and espoused “pro-Nazi ideology with a specific hatred of the Jewish community" from two social media accounts from October to November.

The man, who was living in the state of Queensland, was taken into immigration detention after the cancellation of his visa, and would be deported unless he voluntarily left first, as per local reports.

On December 14, a terrorist mass shooting struck a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people, including a child. Critics have accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government of failing to adequately address a rise in antisemitism in Australia following the war in Gaza.

A father and son allegedly opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach. Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead in the attack, but his son, Naveed Akram, is charged with murder and terrorism, with police saying he was recorded saying he was motivated by the Quran.

Last week, Albanese said his government will take several steps, including a package of reforms to crack down on hate speech and radicalisation, to combat rising antisemitism in the country in light of the Bondi Beach attack. This includes new powers to target extremist preachers and to refuse or cancel visas for those who spread “hate and division".

“There is no place in Australia for antisemitism. It is an evil that tears at the fabric of our country," he said at a press conference. Meanwhile, Burke said he plans to lower the legal thresholds for a person’s antisemitic actions to be illegal.

He also said that for a visa cancellation the authorities needed to prove a person’s actions had a harmful impact on the community, but “incitement of hate should be enough".

(with inputs from Reuters)

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