Australian-Israeli far-right provocateur Avi Yemini has been banned from entering the United Kingdom to speak at Saturday’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in London.
He joins a growing list of international far-right figures barred by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has now cancelled the electronic travel authorisations of at least eight individuals whose presence she deemed “not conducive to the public good”.
Big following
Yemini, born Avraham Shalom Waks in Melbourne, has built a substantial following as the Australian correspondent for the Canadian far-right outlet Rebel News, run by Tommy Robinson collaborator Ezra Levant.
A former Israeli Defence Forces soldier who served with the Golani Brigade, Yemeni has described himself as “proudly anti-Islam” and once declared himself “the world’s proudest Jewish Nazi” at a 2018 Robinson demonstration — an observation he subsequently tried to pass off as a joke.
Crackdown by government
In 2019 he pleaded guilty to assault after throwing a chopping board at his former wife, a conviction that later saw him denied entry to New Zealand.
He has attended and spoken at previous Robinson rallies in the UK without difficulty.
His ban forms part of a broader crackdown reported by Searchlight in recent weeks.
American podcaster Joey Mannarino, whom Searchlight covered following his reported contacts with US congressional figures sympathetic to Robinson, has also had his travel authorisation cancelled, as has MAGA influencer Valentina Gomez, Dutch conspiracy activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek, and Spanish far-right commentator Patricia Lluch.
Robinson collaborator Don Keith, who broadcasts on Robinson’s Urban Xx, has also been told he’s not welcome.
Polish MEP Dominik Tarczyński, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, was also turned back, prompting predictable comparisons to communism from the MEP himself and supportive noises from Liz Truss, who appears to have nothing better to do.
Spreading hate
Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed the government’s position plainly enough, stating that ministers would not allow people to enter the country to “threaten our communities and spread hate on our streets”.
Saturday’s rally coincides with the FA Cup Final and a Nakba Day demonstration organised by the Palestine Coalition, with the Metropolitan Police deploying 4,000 officers across the capital.
