Abuse prompts Jewish congregants to conceal identity
Australian Jews are hiding signs of their religious identity to avoid harassment, a senior rabbi has told a royal commission investigating anti-Semitism.
Rabbi Moshe Kahn, President of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, said personal safety had deteriorated significantly in the past year, with many in the community falling victim to hatred and violence.
The commission heard evidence Tuesday that 90 percent of rabbis surveyed by the council in April observed that congregations hide or minimize outward signs of their Jewish identity.
85 percent of the rabbis surveyed had personally experienced anti-Semitic behavior.
“The rabbis are openly Jewish … and many of them live in communities where they are the only visibly Orthodox people, so they are easily identified,” Mr. Kahn said.
“The incredible amount of harassment that occurs on the Saturday morning walk to and from synagogue is something we have now normalized and accepted.
“This is something that is tolerable for rabbis to some extent, but when they have children and they walk with their families, it becomes incredibly challenging and challenging.”
Mr. Kahn appeared with representatives of Jewish schools on Tuesday and revealed that parents pay millions of dollars in annual security taxes.
He also spoke about the security burden on society, adding that anti-Semitic incidents are investigated by authorities at an inconsistent rate.
He cited a survey from earlier this year that found only 15 percent of rabbis thought things were actually being followed.
“(This is) incredibly low,” he said.
He noted that smaller synagogues and community events such as camps are starved of resources and face disproportionate risk in making daily decisions about whether events should go ahead.
Victoria Police Superintendent Amanda Bowden also appeared before the commission, where she explained that data on anti-Semitic behavior was not specifically collected.
Whether a crime was motivated by anti-Semitic bias was not required to be recorded in the main crime database, he said.
The commission has previously heard that a synagogue that was firebombed failed to receive government help to improve security in the years before the fire.
Two buildings belonging to the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, southeast of Melbourne, were destroyed by fire on December 6, 2024.
The royal commission was called after 15 people were killed and dozens injured when two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14.
Hearings in Melbourne this week are investigating security risk assessments and relationships between law enforcement and Jewish security groups.
Among those speaking at the inquest on Wednesday are Jewish Community Council of Victoria chief executive Naomi Levin and Acting Commander Kelvin Gale of Victoria Police’s Crime and Counter Terrorism Investigation Services.
