Watch live: Day three of hearings in Sydney
The royal commission is streaming its hearings live. Watch at the link below:
Anti-Zionism ‘new form of antisemitism’, witness says
The “new form of antisemitism” is anti-Zionism, this anonymous witness says.
“I understand Zionism as a hate movement that spreads the libel that Israel is a coloniser, apartheid and genocidal. This movement clearly disavows classic antisemitism, while denying the indigeneity of Jews to Israel and Jewish sovereignty,” he says.
It has “broken many friendships”.
“I’m worried that my friends think that I’m supporting a genocide,” he says. “And for me, a genocide is the worst thing that any country can do. But I know Israel is not doing that. They’re just struggling to survive. But my friends won’t give me an opportunity to just put some facts forward, to give them an opportunity to see things another way.”
In September, the world’s largest academic group of genocide scholars resolved that the legal criteria had been met to establish that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza – Israel’s foreign ministry said the finding was “entirely based on Hamas’ campaign of lies”.
‘Dirty Jew’: father of bullied son speaks of racism at school
This current anonymous witness is speaking about his son’s experience at school when he was 13.
“He was being called ‘dirty Jew’, ‘stinky Jew’, and there were other Nazi-style slurs against him,” the father says. “Kids would make the Nazi salute, and he heard kids say ‘glass the juice’, which is a way of saying gas the jews, and ‘Hitler didn’t finish the job’.”
His son didn’t tell his parents, at first.
“I think this was going on for some weeks before he told us,” he says. After he reported the matter to the school, the father checked in on his son.
“There was a few weeks break [in the issues] but it just kept on building, and he didn’t want to disclose it because he knew that, if he did, it would just be too hard for him to go to the school.”
Bullying and racism “blurred into each other”, the father says. The taunting and slogans began to turn physical: being squeezed until he couldn’t breathe; being dragged across the floor; being thrown into a rubbish bin.
After moving schools, and a period of not attending any schools, the son’s new school has a lot of “Hitler stuff”, including comments about Jewish people “being stingy”.
The day so far
The commission’s day three hearing has just resumed after the lunch break.
So far today, we’ve heard about the experiences of children and families experiencing antisemitism at schools and universities.
After hearing from a Jewish teenager who said she hoped “the royal commission can help us”, the commission heard from an anonymous teacher from northern Tasmania discussing the rise in antisemitic tropes and symbols she has been witnessing since October 7, 2023.
The teacher remembered how her year 10 students were “boorish” and “very rude” to an elderly Jewish man who had come to talk to them about the Holocaust for their history studies, “essentially blaming him for what was happening” between Israel and Hamas.
Then, it heard from a Jewish mother and her two daughters – one in year 10, one in university – who all recounted slurs throughout educational institutions. The year 10 student said she regularly heard her peers say “I hate juice” around her, referring to Jews.
‘Who are the people showing hatred?’
Cherny has finished giving his evidence by saying: “I support a two-state solution … I’ve always hoped that there will be a two-state solution. But when other people are saying, ‘From the river to the sea’, and they’re calling for a one-state solution, you know, my question is: ‘Who are the people … showing hatred?’ ”
The commission has adjourned for a lunch break until 2.15pm.
‘We’ve got a farm … we’ll hide you’
Dean Cherny is talking about a conversation he had with a non-Jewish friend after giving a speech at his daughter’s bat mitzvah.
“He came up to me after and sort of said, ‘Dean, I need you to know that, if it comes down to that, we’ve got a farm and we’ll take you and we’ll hide you.’
“I just think, we need to stop and think about that happening in Australia in 2025. That people are thinking like that … I broke down and cried. I needed to leave the function and just, you know, compose myself.”
Proud Australian and proud Jew – now mutually exclusive, witness says
Melbourne-born and raised Dean Cherny, a father of two daughters, is a proud Australian and proud Jew.
Until the Bondi attack, he didn’t feel the last two descriptions were mutually exclusive.
“They were just sort of joined,” he is telling the commission now. “I was an Australian Jew, but now I sort of feel that I need to, in various situations, sort of separate those two because I’m unsure as to how the Jewish side of things will be received.”
Cherny now works with Jewish community security group, CSG, which protects Jewish schools and synagogues.
“I think Bondi showed us that this isn’t a game. Like, this isn’t fun,” he says. “Every time I go on shift, I call my wife to tell her I love her and my kids.
“No one in Australia should not be able to practise their religious freedoms, and I don’t think it should be negotiable for Jewish people to have to compromise there.”
Mother never got answers after reporting Melbourne museum incident
We’re now hearing from a Melbourne mother, who is also speaking anonymously as witness AAU.
She is currently providing more details about the incident teacher Blake Shaw referred to, which we reported earlier this morning, where students from a Jewish primary school were approached by older students who chanted “Free Palestine” while on an excursion to a Melbourne museum in July last year. Her son, who was in year 5, was on that trip.
She made a report through Victoria’s Department of Education Report Racism email address.
“I wanted to make sure that they underwent an educative process to understand the impact that their words had on our children,” the mother said. She was told the department would investigate the incident.
After following up several times, the mother was informed by the department that, due to confidentiality requirements, she was not permitted to know about the consequences of the behaviour.
Commission ‘appalled’ by protester wearing antisemitic T-shirt outside hearings
Meanwhile, a man wearing an antisemitic T-shirt has been moved on by NSW Police after he turned up outside the CBD building where the royal commission is being conducted. Police are investigating the incident.
In a statement, the commission said: “The Royal Commission is appalled that such an item of clothing was worn in the vicinity of our hearing venue.
“Safety of witnesses is paramount to the Royal Commission. We want to reassure witnesses and those wishing to engage with the Royal Commission that safety protocols are in place.
“The Royal Commission is determined to investigate antisemitism in Australia without fear or intimidation.”
‘Free Palestine’ taunts made to primary school students
We’re back from morning tea.
Blake Shaw works at a Jewish primary school in Melbourne. He is now giving evidence about a school excursion to a museum he was on with his students in July 2025.
While his students were at the museum, five or six students from another school, likely a high school, came up to his students and began to chant “Free Palestine”.
When Shaw confronted the teacher of the students about it, he says he “shrugged it off and scoffed at the suggestion of what I had said, which was obviously quite insulting and belittling”.
“I said, ‘These students are 10 or 11 years old. They don’t need to be dealing with this right now.’ ”
Shaw says he then heard the same students say “Free Hezbollah” as they passed through the museum.
Jewish Australians being held ‘personally responsible’ for Gaza
As the Jewish mother and her two children finish giving evidence about their lived experiences of antisemitism, Commissioner Virginia Bell asks them: “You say that you’ve experienced people holding you as personally responsible for events in Gaza. And do I take it that those people have no idea whatever your views on that topic might be?”
The Jewish university student responded: “Yeah, I think they just see you’re Israeli, therefore … you are fully responsible, and you need to make a full-blown political statement on the situation. Even the fact that we went [to Israel], my friends were horrified. They were like, ‘You’re going to this horrible country doing all these horrible things.’ ”
The other daughter said: “Being Jewish is, again what my Mum said, having a target on your back. Especially because I don’t look like the average Australian … but I will never stop being proud of who I am.”
The commission is now taking a 15-minute morning tea break.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
