Vile abuse, targeted by Murdoch. The cost of speaking out against Israel

Jewish Council of Australia Executive Director Sarah Schwartz told the Bondi Royal Commission there was constant harassment from pro-Israel activists. Stephanie Tran reports.

Human rights lawyer Sarah Schwartz, who testified on Thursday, said attacks by pro-Israel groups are aimed at legitimizing Jewish people who criticize Israel.

“They are based on the idea that Jewish identity is inherently tied to Israel, and therefore Jews who do not support Israel or criticize Israel are not actually Jews and are traitors,” he told the commission.

Schwartz said he was referred to as a “self-hating Jew,” “Hitler’s Jew,” a “kapo” and a “Judenrat” and was depicted using Holocaust imagery such as “on the train to the concentration camps” and the imposition of a yellow Star of David on Jews under Nazi rule.

The Holocaust was weaponized

He said the Holocaust atrocities were a motivation for Palestinian solidarity work and that the weaponization of pro-Israeli Holocaust depictions was “incredibly disturbing.”

“I was taught that never again means never again for anyone, and that’s why I do what I do,” Schwartz said.

“The use of Holocaust and Nazi imagery and symbols of Jewish persecution against me was incredibly disturbing and distressing, and I think that

It sends a chilling message to other Jews when they want to talk.

Schwartz said the stereotype that all Jewish people are politically aligned with Israel “has caused tremendous harm.”

“I talk to Jews who contact me almost every day and are afraid to speak out, because they know that if they voice their political beliefs, they risk the same kind of harassment, slander and targeting that I experienced.”

Murdoch media reports fueled abuse

Schwartz reported to the commission: Australian it compromised his safety and ultimately led him to abandon his police appeal, which was intended to protect him from ongoing harassment.

He described an incident in March 2025 after police applied for a personal safety interference order (PSIO) against lawyer Zara Cooper, who targeted Schwartz on Instagram under the pseudonym “@clammy_fraud”.

Schwartz said he first learned about the application through a journalist. Australiancontacted him to say the paper was preparing a story.

“I told him that I had not been informed about the nature of the PSIO,” he said.

“When I asked if he could give me a copy he said he couldn’t give me a copy… because I didn’t know the contents and I also couldn’t respond to most of it because it was a police application.”

Schwartz said the next day: front page article ($) He falsely claimed that he, not the police, had initiated the case in an attempt to stifle freedom of expression.

Freedom of speech is for me, not for you

He told the commission Australian He subsequently published further articles on the case, including reproductions of images and doodles that formed part of the material on which the police relied when seeking the warrant to intervene.

“The thing that saddens me the most is Australian “He chose to republish some of the offensive footage which formed the basis of the police appeal to the PSIO,” he said.

“[The Australian] I reposted the content, which included taking my photo and placing it on a train to the concentration camps, calling me a kapo, and various other insults.

Schwartz said the news convinced him that seeking legal protection would expose him to greater public attention and put him at greater risk.

“After this news it became very clear to me that this was turning into a media circus,” he said.

“Reporting these matters to the police… was actually the right thing to do.

It will make me less safe because of media coverage.

He later told police he no longer wanted to comply with the intervention order and the application was withdrawn. S.he has since been reluctant to report further incidents because he fears doing so would create similar publicity.

“It became very clear to me that it would not be safe for me to engage in journalism due to the media attention to me as a person, and particularly the targeting of me by News Corp,” he said.

He also expressed concern that republishing abusive material would normalize antisemitic attacks against Jews who criticize Israel.

“I think media coverage has really normalized the use of these terms against other Jews… people see this coverage and think it is legitimate to call a Jew a Nazi-affiliate or put our faces on a train to the concentration camps.”

Never again. Australian Jew says worst antisemitism comes from Zionists

Being pro-Palestinian is not antisemitism

Schwartz rejected claims that pro-Palestinian activism was a significant driver of antisemitism, stating: Despite his attempts to paint solidarity spaces in Palestine as hostile to Jews, this did not reflect his own experience.

“I know there is a lot of public discourse that suggests that human rights spaces and Palestine solidarity spaces, in particular, are spaces that can be hostile to the Jewish people,” he said.

This has never been my experience.

Instead, Schwartz said he received “numerous messages of support and messages clearly condemning anti-Semitism” from Muslim colleagues following the Bondi terror attack.

government response

Schwartz criticized the government’s response to antisemitism, which focused disproportionately on the Palestinian solidarity movement, including banning protest slogans.

“I think government responses that find the source of anti-Semitism in the Palestine solidarity movement also suggest to the Jews who are part of that movement that we are either not really Jews or that we are somehow opposed to the Jews in our own communities.”

Asked what measures would most effectively combat antisemitism, Schwartz said governments should prioritize combating far-right extremism.

Avoid confusing antisemitism with the Palestinian solidarity movement.

“It’s really important for us to take the far-right threat really seriously… we know it’s on the rise and it’s becoming more prevalent,” he said.

“It is critical that governments and institutions do not adopt policies in response to antisemitism that engage in such conflation that suggests that antisemitism comes from the Palestinian solidarity movement.”

He also called for the inclusion of progressive Jewish organizations in policymaking on antisemitism.

“It’s really important that organizations like the Jewish Council and other progressive Jewish organizations have a seat at the table,” he said.

“This demonstrates to the wider community that

The Jewish community, like every community, has diversity of views.

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