Antisemitism targeting even critics of Israeli government, royal commission hears

A recent wave of antisemitism has been far-reaching, even targeting Jewish people who are critical of the Israeli government, a royal commission probing the phenomenon has heard.

The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has been hearing from religious leaders, police and security groups as it probes safety settings during a round of hearings in Melbourne.

This morning, senior rabbi Allison Conyer said progressive Jewish movements had also been subjected to the abusive phone calls, bomb threats and lockdown drills that have featured regularly in evidence this week.

Rabbi Conyer, who also chairs the Union for Progressive Judaism, provided several detailed examples of how antisemitism had increased "almost exponentially" in the wake of Hamas's October 7, 2023, terror attack and Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza.

"A young adult once told me that she was walking in our neighbourhood and someone was driving by," she told the inquiry.

Progressive Judaism took an inclusive and modern approach to Jewish life, Rabbi Conyer said, and welcomed LGBT members, female rabbis and interfaith families.

A senior rabbi at the country's first progressive synagogue in St Kilda, Rabbi Conyer said congregants had relayed examples of Jewish Australians being vilified irrespective of their background or their views on the war.

These included a left-wing university student who believed in Zionism but was critical of Israel and who was reportedly told "we don't want your Zionist scum here" by a socialist group he attended.

Another student, who defined herself as anti-Zionist, "actually got death threats", she said.

"This is blatant antisemitism, hiding itself and using Zionism as an excuse," she said.

She said the highly charged climate meant Jewish Australians felt they could not express their grief for Israelis killed or taken hostage in the October 7 attack.

Entire Jewish community traumatised, inquiry hears

The senior rabbi was among several witnesses to describe a gap between growing security needs and what Jewish organisations have been able to pay for.

Grant funding has been sporadic or difficult to apply for, the commission has heard, and substantial workloads are being shouldered by volunteers.

Sensitive details of particular security arrangements have generally been suppressed.

The immediate past president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Lesli Berger, told the commission the needs extended beyond security and into psychological welfare.

"The entire Jewish community has been traumatised," he told Thursday's hearing.

Mr Berger, a father of three and a descendant of Holocaust survivors, gave evidence that his family was left feeling especially vulnerable after a Nazi swastika was graffitied on their Sydney home.

He installed expensive security cameras and scrubbed his address from public records after the December 2024 incident.

When the Bondi terror attack unfolded about a year later, he said two of his children who were alone at the home "completely panicked".

"They were afraid that, given what had happened, other prominent members of the Jewish community could be targeted, including us," he said.

He felt that extensive volunteer work improving social cohesion was "all for nought".

Several witnesses have told the commission they believed anti-Zionism was by nature antisemitic because it denied Jewish people's claim to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.

Commissioner Virginia Bell has pressed some of them on whether that meant pro-Palestinian views were necessarily at odds with the idea of Israel's existence.

"There are many, many Jews and non-Jews who are absolutely sympathetic to Palestinians and their plight, and sympathetic to Israel and Israelis and their plight," Rabbi Conyer said when pressed on this today.

"I say: reject the binaries. It's not pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian."

Mr Berger said the two-state solution was the "only viable long-term solution to achieve peace".

The commission will hear from high-ranking bureaucrats in the NSW and Victorian premiers' offices and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry as it continues this afternoon.