MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Israel President Isaac Herzog started a state visit Monday aimed at consoling grieving Australian Jews and improving bilateral relations by laying a wreath and stones at the site of an antisemitic attack in Sydney that left 15 dead.

Herzog met victims’ families and survivors of the Dec. 14 attack on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach. Only one of the two alleged gunmen survived following a gunbattle with police. Naveed Akram has been charged with committing a terrorist act, murdering 15 people and wounding another 40 in what was Australia’s worst mass shooting in 29 years.

Herzog laid the wreath and two stones he had brought from Jerusalem at the rain-swept Bondi Pavillion near the site of the massacre. The pavilion became on impromptu memorial in the days after the tragedy as flowers and cards were placed there.

Herzog says he’s in Sydney to show solidarity and love

The Israeli president said the stones would remain at Bondi in memory of the victims and as a reminder that good people of all faiths and nations “will continue to hold strong in the face of terror, violence and hatred, and that we shall overcome this evil together.”

“We were shaken to our core when we first heard about the Bondi Beach attack. Our heart missed a beat, like all Israelis and all Jews. And I’m here to express solidarity, friendship, and love,” Herzog told reporters.

“And I also believe that this is an opportunity to upgrade the relations between Israel and Australia because we are two democracies that share values together and we are confronting the roots of evil from all over the world. And we should do so together,” he added.

The visit to Bondi within hours of the president landing in Sydney with his wife Michal Herzog came with tight security. Police snipers were visible posted on Bondi roof tops.

Herzog will also visit Melbourne and the national capital Canberra before he returns to Israel on Thursday. Sydney and Melbourne are Australia’s largest cities and home to 85% of the nation’s Jewish population.

Protests were held in Sydney and Melbourne later Monday over how Israel has waged the war against the militant Hamas group in Gaza and treated Gaza’s civilian population. Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggering the war.

Mainstream Jewish groups have welcomed the visit of Herzog, a former leader of the centrist Labor Party who now plays a largely ceremonial role.

Some Jews say Israeli president is not welcome in Australia

The smaller Jewish Council of Australia community group ran full-page ads in Sydney and Melbourne newspapers on Monday, endorsed with the names of 687 Australian Jews, that said: “Herzog does not speak for us and is NOT WELCOME HERE.”

“We refuse to let our collective grief be used to legitimize a leader whose rhetoric has been part of inciting a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and has contributed to the illegal annexation of the West Bank,” the council’s executive officer Sarah Schwartz said.

Jewish leaders initiated the invitation extended by Governor-General Sam Mostyn, Australia’s equivalent of Israel’s president, at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s request.

Albanese and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have been openly hostile toward each other since the Australian announced six months ago that his government would recognize a Palestinian state.

On Monday, Herzog said he welcomed the “positive steps” the Australian government had taken to tackle antisemitism since the Bondi attack, which was allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group.

The Australian Parliament last month rushed through legislation that lowers the threshold requirements for groups to be banned for hate speech.

The government also announced its highest form of public inquiry, a royal commission, would investigate the nature, prevalence and drivers of antisemitism in general, as well as the circumstances of the Bondi shooting.

Herzog said he shared the frustrations of the victims’ families that more had not been done to prevent such an attack on Australia’s Jewish community.

“These frustrations were shared by many, many of us, including myself,” Herzog said.

“I’ve seen this wave surge all over the world, and I’ve seen it in many countries, including Canada, Great Britain, the United States, and Australia — all English-speaking countries,” Herzog added.

Police tighten restrictions on Sydney protests

After the Bondi shooting was declared a terrorist attack, the New South Wales state parliament rushed through legislation increasing police powers to arrest protesters.

Police can restrict protests for two weeks at a time for up to 90 days following a declared terrorist attack. Police last week continued the restrictions for another two weeks in an effort to contain civil discord in Sydney during Herzog’s visit.

On Monday evening, police clashed with hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Sydney Town Hall. They sprayed the crowd with pepper spray and 27 people were arrested, including 10 charged with assaulting police, a police statement said.

Paramedics treated several protesters for the effects of pepper spray, but there was no report of serious injury, police said.

The protest had continued after the Palestine Action Group organizers lost a court challenge to a police order preventing them from marching from the Town Hall to the New South Wales Parliament.

In Melbourne, 5,000 protesters gathered outside downtown Flinders Street Railway Station, then marched several blocks to the State Library, blocking evening peak-hour traffic, police said.

A 20-year-old woman was arrested after allegedly burning two flags and causing fire damage to a tram stop, police said. She was released and was expected to face charges of willful damage, police said.

Earlier, Herzog said protests targeting him were mostly attempts to “undermine and delegitimize” Israel’s right to exist.