13yo’s urgent plea as dozens share horrific stories of Jewish hate during first hearings of royal commission on anti-Semitism

Fifty-six witnesses reveal the extent of Jew hatred in Australia; One of them said the community wanted a hate inquiry to be a “turning point” in stamping out the growing scourge of anti-Semitism.

“Dirty Jew”, “baby killer” and “Jewish dog” are among the insults spread on Australian streets; Jewish Australians are voicing the same fears, frustrations and shock at the appalling abuse in the first week of the royal commission hearings into anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion.

Schoolyards and sports fields are no exception to hatred; “Hitler should have finished you,” children are told.

A father known only as AAT said his son was hurled at him with “Nazi-style insults”, “dragged on the ground” and thrown into a bin as racism and bullying increased.

Now at a new school in another state, children wear black headbands in class to imitate Hitler’s moustache.

Other children also struggle with Nazi salutes on school trips; A witness known only as AAP also revealed that children at his children’s school joked about dressing up as Hitler or Bondi hitmen for the Year 12 disgrace day.

Jewish mother Natalie Levy said security at her son’s school had “tripled” after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, causing Jewish schools to now look more like prisons.

The 13-year-old girl, who was placed in isolation at her bat mitzvah when the terror attack that allegedly killed 15 innocent people at Bondi Pavilion on December 14 was revealed, said she still has nightmares after seeing hundreds of people running and screaming from the carnage.

The girl, whose mother had to take leave from work to care for her after the attack, said, “Some of my friends are even afraid when the balloon bursts,” explaining how she tried to mask her Jewish jewelry and how she was constantly afraid that she would be exposed to anti-Semitic hatred when she was out.

“I don’t think Jewish children should be afraid to live normally like other children,” the girl said in a pre-recorded video played at the hearing.

“This isn’t fair. I hope the commission can help us.”

Dean Cherny remembers his 10-year-old daughter asking, “Dad, if Israel isn’t safe and we’re not safe in Australia, where do we go?” He was heartbroken when he couldn’t find an answer to his question.

Holocaust survivor Peter Halas told the inquiry: “What is happening in Australia is not a faint echo of a distant past… this is something we know and this recognition is frightening and causes alarm.”

‘I can’t afford to lose any more people’: Tribute to Matilda

The hearing described last year’s “summer of terror”, including arson attacks on synagogues, burning of cars, buildings defaced with graffiti and the discovery of explosives in a caravan in Dural, which was later proven to be a fabricated terrorist plot.

“No one was really surprised by what happened in Bondi, we all felt that something terrible was going to happen,” Kovi Paneth said at the hearing.

Ms Levy wore a bee sting in memory of 10-year-old Matilda, who was tragically killed in the attack, and said the sting represented all that had been lost “due to two years of unchecked and vile anti-Semitism”.

“We cannot afford to lose any more people… this is a pain that will not go away,” he said.

The 13-year-old girl, who was placed in isolation on December 14, also remembered Matilda in the video presentation, saying: “I am so sorry for everyone who died, especially Matilda, because she was just a child and did nothing wrong.”

‘Golden years’ are behind us: Daughter of murdered Bondi hero

Reuven Morrison’s daughter, Sheina Gutnick, told the commission that the “golden years” in Australia were over and Australian Jews were now “re-experiencing the old hatred”.

Mr Morrison, who fled to Australia when he was just 14 and met his wife on the beach where he spent his final moments, threw objects at alleged gunmen before being killed in the Bondi attack.

Ms. Gutnick said she felt anti-Semitism had been “allowed to come out into the open” following the controversial rally at the Opera House on Oct. 9.

“Suddenly it has become socially and morally acceptable to make anti-Semitic comments in public discourse,” he said, calling the shift “extremely concerning.”

Special Representative to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal said the rally was a missed opportunity to combat Jew hatred and claimed that if it had been handled differently by authorities “we could have had a different trajectory.”

“This was a turning point where the intervention of the authorities was such that there was no stopping it and society now had to be on guard,” he said.

He divided Jew-hatred into four forms: Islamic extremism, far-right neo-Nazis, far-left-based issues, and the association of Australian Jews with criticism of Israeli government actions.

Ms Segal said the fourth was the “fastest growing” in Australia and was the reason antisemitism had been “normalised”.

Nir Golan said he became upset after a man gave him a Nazi salute at the Bondi bus stop in October 2023, and told the hearing that the man “started hitting my forehead with his gun finger, pretending he wanted to kill me.”

The only person to intervene was a tourist who was consequently “battered”, and the police encouraged Mr Golan to withdraw his report on the grounds that it would be “a waste of effort”.

Another witness, known only as Benjamin F, fought back tears, telling the commission he felt more support when he came out as gay than when he converted to Judaism.

“I lost friends who abandoned me, lifelong friends and comrades,” Benjamin said between sobs.

“The hatred I felt towards myself and those around me was very deep.”

‘We are afraid of the next Bondi’

SBS board member Vic Alhadeff told the hearing that Australian Jews were desperate for the royal commission to help “push back to the margins” antisemitism.

“We’re afraid of the next Bondi,” he said.

“Thousands of Jewish Australians, and I think millions of other Australians, are desperately waiting for the royal commission to be the catalyst that defines this moment in our country as a turning point, a moment that will push anti-Semitism back to the margins.”

The commission’s final report is expected to be published in December, a year after the Bondi attack.