Jewish Australians have described being harassed in schools, at work, on sports fields and university campuses and online.
Many say they no longer feel they can practice their religion openly, particularly after the mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah event at Bondi on December 14.
Members of the Jewish community have shared their lived experiences during the first week of public hearings by the Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion, formed in response to the Bondi massacre.
There was a steep rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Australia after the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the commission was told.
Most of the more than 50 people who gave evidence at the hearings said they never imagined facing such prolific anti-Semitism in Australia, a place where they had grown up feeling safe and accepted.
Holocaust survivor Peter Halasz told the commission he was afraid to be recognised as Jewish for the first time since he had fled Nazi-occupied Hungary.
“I found myself, for the first time since childhood, afraid to wear my Star of David in public,” Mr Halasz told the inquiry on Monday.
A Jewish nurse described the terror of being admitted to hospital herself about the time footage emerged of two NSW health workers claiming they had killed Israeli citizens and would do it again.
The woman said she had tried to hide her Jewish identity at the time, including cancelling kosher meals, but still feared she would be identified and targeted.
Sheina Gutnick, the daughter of one of the victims of the Bondi attack, recounted being pointed at and called a “f***ing terrorist” while shopping with her baby before the mass shooting.
Schools have been a hotbed for anti-Semitism, with students “parroting” what they were seeing online, one former high school teacher told the inquiry.
A year 10 student told the inquiry Nazi salutes were directed at her while studying the Holocaust. Students had also thrown coins at her and asked if she would pick them up.
Australia’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, told the inquiry the fastest-growing form of anti-Semitism in Australia was the conflation of the actions of the Israeli government with Jewish people.
Ms Segal said it was a “fashionable” form of anti-Semitism spread by online influencers, but one she believed could be combated with education.
Jewish university student Mia Kline said she felt she had been ”put on trial” for the actions of Israel.
The 22-year-old said when she reported Jewish students feeling unsafe on campus, senior university leaders refused to act because there was a difference between what was “hurtful” and what was “hateful”.
“No senior university official would ever say to a student from any other minority community, no, what you’re feeling is not actually suffering against your people,” Ms Kline said.
The commission will probe the intelligence and law enforcement response leading up to the attack, including what was known about the shooters and what was done with that information, in a second block of public hearings from May 25 to June 12.
Those hearings will also explore security arrangements at the festival targeted in the attack and how intelligence about individuals is utilised and shared to inform decisions, including the granting of firearms licences.
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