Isaac Herzog held secret meeting with Asio boss during Australia trip, intelligence agency confirms

Granting a foreign head of state such as the Israeli president access to domestic intelligence agency ‘unprecedented’, senator David Pocock claims

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The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, had a secret meeting with Australia’s director general of security, Mike Burgess, during his visit to Australia last month, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has confirmed.

Under questioning in the Senate from the ACT independent senator David Pocock on Tuesday, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said questions about Asio “were often very sensitive”, but refused to confirm the meeting.