Munif Mohammed Abou Rish was a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

journalist, who is claimed to have planned to assassinate

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

in the mid-1970s, at the time the federal president of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(and future

prime minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

). According to

ASIO ''Asio'' is a genus of typical owls, or true owls, in the family Strigidae. This group has representatives over most of the planet, and the short-eared owl is one of the most widespread of all bird species, breeding in Europe, Asia, North Ameri ...

reports released in 2007, Abou Rish entered Australia on a fake passport provided to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) by Palestinians living in Australia. Abou Rish remained in Australia for three weeks and intended to return in 1975 to carry out assassinations of Hawke, the Israeli ambassador to Australia, and several prominent Jewish-Australians. In an interview, the former Palestinian ambassador for Australia and the South Pacific,

Ali Kazak Ali Kazak (; 29 March 1947 – 17 May 2025) was a Palestinian diplomat. He was the managing director of Southern Link International, a business, investment consultancy and public relations company. He was the founder of the Australia-Arab Affa ...

, denied the passports were fake and indicated that the PFLP never intended to assassinate Hawke.

References

1974 crimes Antisemitism in Australia Failed assassins Australian journalists 20th-century Australian criminals Palestinian emigrants to Australia 1974 deaths Year of birth missing {{Crime-bio-stub