Jewish storytelling tells it like it is for all Australians

The personal stories being told to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion are heart-wrenching and certainly a world away from the everyday experiences of most Australians.

But they also help explain to the wider community how antisemitism haunted our Jewish community long before the December 14 Bondi Beach terror attack.

During the hearing’s two opening days, Holocaust survivor Peter Halasz told the commission he was now afraid to wear his Star of David in public because Jews in Australia “have become targets”.

Others spoke of fears for their children, who grow up facing a rising tide of antisemitic abuse, graffiti and attacks.

Stefanie Schwartz, president of the board of Mount Sinai College in Maroubra, told of students taking part in “simulations and evacuation drills” to prepare for terrorist attacks. A mother, Dina, spoke of children attending her old school where concrete bollards now protected pupils from being rammed by a car, as well as high fences, security guards and occasional police presences. In Melbourne, children cannot wear school uniforms to the CBD.

Newly arrived Israeli-born Monash University academic Tali Pinsky said Australians were generally “very welcoming” but Jewish people were criticised because of Israel’s actions in the war. “Jewish and Israeli people are personally targeted and blamed for the actions of the Israeli government in a way that citizens of other countries involved in conflicts are not,” she said.

It was partly to hear such stories that, in the days after the planned murderous attack on Jewish Australians and others at Bondi Beach, the Herald supported demands for a royal commission. As the nation continued to mourn, we began 2026 with an editorial calling on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “to announce a Commonwealth royal commission that investigates every aspect of the events leading up to Bondi, with the scourge of antisemitism front and centre”.

Our reasoning was that this was the only form of inquiry with the scope to root out the rise of antisemitism in this country, which had accelerated since the appalling Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, and throughout Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza.

The commission has received more than 7400 submissions, with more expected throughout its duration. Two more hearing blocks are scheduled and will focus on the key drivers of antisemitism, its prevalence in institutions and industries targeted for online hate, and the circumstances surrounding the Bondi Beach terror attack. The commission’s final report is due on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack.

Witnesses acknowledged antisemitism came into the open after the Hamas attack but a seismic shift occurred with Bondi Beach.

Australia has been forced to confront an ugly new reality and it is vital that our Jewish community’s stories are not only given a platform but listened to and heard with empathy.

Their lived experience can make the difficult path ahead easier to navigate. Every person’s story we hear, every experience shared, helps to develop our understanding of how antisemitism in Australia moved out of the shadows and came to parade across the social landscape.

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