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In light of rumor that Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to Australia early this month, three Australian and Palestinian legal organizations have officially requested that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigate him for his role in alleged war crimes.

The organizations announced on Friday that they had written to the AFP to “urgently alert” them about their concerns in light of President Isaac Herzog’s “military onslaught” in Gaza since October 7, 2023, “in light of serious and credible criminal allegations of incitement to genocide and advocating genocide.”

A 10-page submission from the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ), Al-Haq, and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights contained both the allegations made against Herzog and Australia’s obligations under international law and its own domestic law.

Australia has both the legal authority and the duty to act, according to Rawan Arraf, executive director of the ACIJ, in a statement.

By allowing Herzog to enter Australia without an AFP investigation, Arraf added that the Australian government would be “blatant disregarding” its international legal obligations.

Herzog, the head of state, was the country’s general director, Shawan Jabarin, who pointed out that Israel killed 23, 000 children and 1, 000 babies in Gaza “before their first birthday,” according to Jabarin, the general director of Al-Haq.

4, 000 human embryos and the hope of a future life were destroyed by bombings, according to Jabarin.

In response to last month’s mass shooting that targeted a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach and left 15 people dead, Herzog is scheduled to visit Sydney on February 7, according to The Times of Israel newspaper.

In December, Albanese informed reporters that the Australian government had invited Herzog to “honor and remember the victims of the Bondi anti-Semitic terrorist attack and offer support for Jewish Australians and the Australian Jewish community at this time.”

Ohad Kozminsky, an executive member of the Jewish Council of Australia, stated last month that Herzog’s visit would only “increase tensions and exacerbate division in our community” because he is “head of a foreign country that has been committing genocide.”

In the wake of the attack, the federal parliament of Australia passed stringent new gun reform laws as well as hate speech reforms, which have sparked concerns from opponents of some deeply sweeping reforms.

While “some of the most contentious provisions” were removed before the legislation was quickly passed earlier this week, according to the Jewish Council of Australia, others remained, including “enhanced ministerial powers to deport migrants based on arbitrary decision-making.”

In response to the antisemitic attack at Bondi, the council announced on Wednesday that 60, 000 people had signed its petition. It urged Australian “leaders to reject attempts to erode Jewish grief, erode civil liberties, or pit communities against one another.”

We are watching our grief and rage being used as a political tool to demonize Palestinians, Muslims, migrants, and the anti-genocide protest movement, according to Kozminsky in a statement.

According to Kozminsky, “parliamentary chaos and political whimsy do not strengthen Jewish safety.”

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Before a snap election is set for February 8, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hasdissolved parliament.

As lawmakers chanted the traditional “banzai” rallying cry on Friday, the speaker of Japan’s parliament read out a letter formally dissolving the lower house.

A 12-day election campaign that officially begins on Tuesday thanks to the 465-member lower house’s dissolution.

On Monday, Takaichi, the nation’s first female premier, made her intentions known.

Although Takaichi has only been in office for three months and received strong approval ratings of about 70%, she was elected as Japan’s first female leader in October.

After experiencing significant declines in public support in recent years, she hopes to capitalize on her personal popularity to help the ruling party regain momentum.

In the powerful lower chamber, Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP) have a sizable majority.

In response to rising tensions with China, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK stated that important election-related issues will be addressing rising consumer prices as well as security concerns.

As he flew back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, Trump declared to reporters on Air Force One, “We’re watching Iran.”

Trump remarked, “We have a big force going toward Iran.”

He said, “We’re watching them very closely, but I prefer not to see anything happen.”

We have a lot of ships going that way, he said, and maybe we won’t need to use it. “Just in case a big flotilla goes that way,” he continued.

Trump made the announcement regarding the US naval construction after he made threats of military action against Iran last week, he said after receiving assurances that Tehran would not execute protesters.

Following US media reports last week that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group of vessels were given the order to divert from maneuvers in the South China Sea to the Middle East, Trump confirmed that the region is still under military preparation.

Trump reiterated on Thursday that his earlier threats to use force against Tehran had prevented Tehran’s top Iranian authorities from carrying out the execution of more than 800 protesters, and he once more said he was willing to speak with the country’s leadership.

Iranian officials have denied plans to execute those who participated in the widespread anti-government demonstrations that started in late December and that, according to Iranian state media, left 2,427 civilians and members of the security forces dead.

Trump stated on Wednesday that he hoped Iran would stop US military action against Iran and that the US would intervene if Tehran resumed its nuclear program.

Trump remarked to CNBC in a Davos interview that “they can’t do the nuclear.”

The president referred to US air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, when Washington joined Israel in its 12-day occupation of the nation. “If they do it, it will happen again,” the president said.

Prior to the attacks in June, Washington had previously ordered a significant military deployment in the Middle East, and officials later bragged about how Tehran’s nuclear program had been kept a secret.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned the US that if attacked, Tehran would “fir back with everything we have.” He wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The minister wrote that “our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have” when faced with renewed threat.

Araghchi said that while his warning was not a threat, “but a reality I feel I need to express explicitly because I dislike war as a diplomat and veteran.”

He predicted that an “all-out confrontation will be ferocious and drag on far, far longer than the fantasy timelines that Israel and its proxies are trying to sell to the White House.”