Australia cancels visa of pro-Palestine academic after calling 7 October operation ‘considerable celebration’
Canberra (Quds News Network)- Australian government has canceled the visa of a US law professor after telling a pro-Palestine rally on 7 October that the first anniversary of Hamas’s “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation marked “considerable celebration” for its role in elevating “global literacy” on Palestine.
An Australian government source confirmed Khaled Beydoun, an associate professor in law at Arizona State University, had left the country last week after being informed his visa status was under consideration by the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, after the remarks, the Guardian reported on October 16.
The visa was then canceled after Beydoun had flown out of Australia.
Beydoun made the remarks at a rally planned by Stand 4 Palestine on the steps of Lakemba mosque earlier this month.
According to a recording of the speech aired on the ABC, he said: “In many respects, today is also a day that marks considerable celebration, considerable progress, and in some respects, considerable privilege. The level of global literacy around what’s taking place in Palestine has exponentially risen.”
The speech was on the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 operation.
The opposition home affairs spokesperson, James Paterson, said Beydoun’s visa should never have been approved in the first place.
“But he did prove the point that many of us are making in the lead-up to the rallies on Monday, which is that the only reason you would organise a pro-Palestinian protest on Monday, is if you thought it was worthy of celebration,” he told Sky News.
In an interview on the news podcast The Briefing days after his remarks, Beydoun reportedly explained to the host the comments had been taken out of context.
