Royal commission hears Jewish-Australians endured ‘summer of terror’ after Hamas attack

Jewish-Australians experienced a “summer of terror” in the wake of the Hamas terror attack and subsequent war in Gaza, a Royal Commission on anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion has heard.

Six hundred Jewish creatives who had joined a private WhatsApp were doxxed in February 2024, the commission was told as counsel assisting the commissioner Zelie Heger SC spoke of the “summer of terror”.

This included the arson attacks on the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne, a kosher catering business in Bondi, the Newtown Synagogue, as well as anti-Semitic graffiti attacks through Woollahra.

Alex Ryvchin’s former home was also defaced with anti-Israel graffiti.

Ms Heger SC added that the discovery of explosives in a caravan in Dural, while proven to be a fabricated terrorist plot, was nonetheless “deeply alarming” as it was “designed to create fear in the Jewish community”.

Slain Bondi hero met wife at same beach he was killed at

Sheina Gutnick said her father, Reuven Morrison, had fled to Australia when he was just 14.

He met his wife on Bondi Beach, a place where she now holds “conflicted feelings” about after her father was killed on that very beach on December 14.

“Bondi holds many complicated and conflicted feelings for me … it was somewhere where my parents started their history together,” Ms Gutnick told the hearing.

“I had spent many days of my childhood (there)

“And now Bondi holds a really, really heavy weight in our community’s heart.”

Ms Gutnick spoke of how she had seen people claim online and in the media that the Bondi attack was “only anti-Zionist”, telling the hearing she has seen a significant shift in anti-Semitism since October 2023.

“I felt as though anti-Semitism was being allowed to come into the open,” she said.

“All of a sudden it was socially, morally acceptable for anti-Semitic comments to be made in public discourse.

“This has shifted in such a massive way that has been deeply alarming for all community members.”

‘Should have gassed them’: Horror abuse exposed in hearing

A Jewish student was told “Hitler should have gassed them all” by another student while on a public bus, Ms Heger said while sharing stories of anti-Semitic abuse at the beginning of the hearing on Monday.

School students are using “dirty Jew” as an insult, she said.

The hearing was also told how a Jewish man who was on his way to a bus stop wearing a kippah when a man called him a “dirty Jew”, performed a Nazi salute, and “directed a gun finger gesture towards him”.

“One bystander intervened to try to help. The large crowd nearby did nothing,” Ms Heger said.

“He was deeply disturbed by this event. It left him feeling isolated and exposed in his own neighbourhood.”

Jewish people have taken to trying to mask their Jewish identity in public so they are not “vulnerable to attack”, Ms Heger said, with some avoiding travelling to the CBD and feeling unsafe in public spaces.

“Experiences of anti-Semitism change the way the Jewish community think, feel and move throughout the world,” Ms Heger said.

“Many members of the Jewish community have ancestors who died in or survived the Holocaust, and that intergenerational trauma they carry can magnify that anxiety and fear. They wonder if history is repeating itself.”

October 7 attack marked a significant turning point for anti-Semitism in Australia

Ms Heger said the October 7 attack on Israel marked a significant turning point for anti-Semitism in Australia.

She described anti-Semitism “as one of the society’s oldest hatreds and has existed in one way or another for centuries”.

“The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 2023, during which 1200 Israelis were murdered and 250 were taken hostage, marked a significant turning point for anti-Semitism in Australia,” she said.

“In the immediate aftermath of that attack on October 9, a demonstration took place in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, where its sails had been lit up in the colours of the Israeli flag, in solidarity with the victims and Israeli and Jewish communities.

“In a time when those communities were in a period of deep mourning, some participants in that protest chanted F--k the Jews! Or where are the Jews? And we’ll hear evidence about that event and the fear and anxiety created in the community,” Ms Heger said.

Daughter of slain Bondi hero to be called as witness

The daughter of one of the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack and prominent Jewish community leader Alex Ryvchin will be among the first witnesses at the Royal Commission on anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion.

The first block of hearings before commissioner Virginia Bell begin in Sydney on Monday.

Twelve witnesses are due to be called on Monday, including Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was killed in the deadly Bondi Beach attack on December 14.

Footage captured Mr Morrison throwing objects at one of the alleged gunmen.

‘Harrowing’: Holocaust survivor to give ‘moving evidence

Holocaust survivor Peter Halas is due to give “moving evidence” on Monday, reflecting on the Bondi attack and asking the commission to consider “how a country like Australia arrived at this point”, senior counsel assisting the inquiry Richard Lancaster SC said.

He added evidence to be given by courageous witnesses during the first hearing block will be a “harrowing appreciation of the serious nature and wide incidence of anti-Semitism” across the country.

“For the witnesses who are courageously appearing to give evidence in this hearing block, any debate about definitions is not material,” Mr Lancaster said.

“Each of them has been impacted by anti-Semitism, and the collective effect of their evidence will be a harrowing appreciation of the serious nature and wide incidence of anti-Semitism in contemporary Australia.”

Bondi attack will also be investigated

The circumstances surrounding the Bondi attack will be probed during the second hearing block slated for the end of May, while the third block is set to explore the radicalisation that may be generated through online hate and anti-Semitism on social media, Mr Lancaster told the hearing.

Holocaust survivor to give evidence

Holocaust survivor Peter Halas OAM is due to give evidence on Monday, Ms Bell said while opening the hearing on Monday.

“Today and over the next two weeks the focus will be on my first term of reference which requires investigation of the nature and prevalence of anti-Semitism in institutions and society,” Ms Bell said.

“There are several strands to this first term an important. One requires me to assess the impact of anti-Semitism on the daily life of Jewish Australians with respect to their security, their physical and mental health and wellbeing.

“It’s fitting that we begin by taking evidence from ordinary members of the Jewish community about their lived experience of anti-Semitism.”

She said the sharp spike in anti-Semitism appears to be clearly linked with events in the Middle East.

Evidence of the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported to Jewish organisations over the last few years is set to be presented during the first hearing block, including from ECAJ’s annual reports.

Two members of the public were able to snag a seat in the hearing room, which had only about 20 seats inside.

Media were unable to sit inside, having to flock to an overflow room in Clarence Street.

What the royal commission will hear

The witnesses will talk about their lived experiences of anti-Semitism, with Mr Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, to be the first community leader in the witness box on Monday morning.

“This is about justice for the dead, their families and those whose lives were permanently transformed,” Mr Ryvchin told The Australian.

“It is about answering the questions that allow us to heal and emerge stronger and ensure that this ­misery is inflicted on no other Australians.

“It is about wrenching this country out of a flaccid mindset that allows extremism and incitement to flourish and for the worst among us to dictate how the good and decent live.”

Fifteen innocent people were killed while dozens of others were injured after Naveed Akram and his father, Sajid, allegedly opened fire at the Chanukah By The Sea event on December 14 last year.

Akram has yet to enter pleas to 59 charges, including 40 counts of attempted murder. His father was shot dead by police. The pair are alleged to have been inspired by ISIS.

The two-week hearing will focus on defining anti-Semitism, its prevalence in Australia and how to assess its prevalence in society and institutions.

“This commission is the most significant national examination of anti-Semitism in Australia’s history,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said in a statement.

“Over the next fortnight, the country will hear from the people who lead our community alongside ordinary Australians who have lived through what happens when words of hatred go unchallenged long enough that they stop being only words.

“The Jewish community is approaching this as Australians asking Australian institutions to look honestly at what has happened in this country and what needs to change.”

Members of the public will be able to watch the hearings via a livestream, as public seating will be limited inside the building.

Why Albanese called royal commission

Anthony Albanese announced the royal commission on January 8 – 25 days after the Bondi Beach attacks – following weeks of pressure on the government

The government had already ordered a review by former ASIO head Dennis Richardson into the actions of security agencies before the attack but argued a royal commission could platform anti-Semitism.

“I’ve listened, and in a democracy, that’s a good thing to listen to what people are saying,” the Prime Minister said of the backflip at the time.

“And what people are saying is, yes, we’re concerned about the events, and the Richardson review will give consideration to those national security issues, where there any gaps or anything else, but we want an opportunity to tell our story about what occurred.

“I’ve taken the time to reflect, to meet with leaders in the Jewish community, and most importantly, I’ve met with many of the families of victims and survivors of that horrific attack.

“It’s clear to me that a royal commission is essential to achieving this.”

The royal commission will cover four key areas:

• Tackling anti-Semitism by investigating the nature and prevalence of it in institutions and society, and its key drivers in Australia, including ideologically and religiously motivated extremism and radicalisation;

• Making recommendations that will assist law enforcement, border control, immigration, and security agencies to tackle anti-Semitism;

– Examining the circumstances surrounding the anti-Semitic Bondi terrorist attack on December 14, 2025

• Making any other recommendations arising out of the inquiry for strengthening social cohesion in Australia and countering the spread of ideologically and religiously motivated extremism.

“A royal commission is not the beginning or the end of what Australia must do to eradicate anti-Semitism, protect ourselves from terrorism or strengthen our social cohesion,’’ the Prime Minister said at the time.

“That is an ongoing national effort, for all of us. Because an attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on all Australians.”

Interim report handed down

The beginning of public hearings comes days after Ms Bell released an interim report with 14 recommendations, all of which Mr Albanese has vowed to accept.

The recommendations include calls to heighten security during Jewish High Holy Days and Jewish festivals, and refine counter-terror co-operation between federal and state agencies.

The state of the country’s gun laws was also thrown into the spotlight, as Ms Bell suggested efforts for a national gun buyback scheme and to bring in an updated and more consistent national firearms agreement should be prioritised.

She has also asked for the role of commonwealth counter-terrorism co-ordinator to become full-time.

The prime minister will be required to take part in counter-terror exercises within nine months of each federal election along with all ministers on the National Security Committee upon the implementation of another of the recommendations.

Five of the recommendations have been kept confidential for national security reasons.

Mr Albanese said he would “respond swiftly” to the recommendations.

The royal commission’s final report is due to be handed down on December 14, marking one year since the fatal attack.