The head of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in Australia has vowed to deliver her final report before the anniversary of the Bondi massacre, but has ruled out hearing evidence about the attack from eyewitnesses. Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Former High Court judge Virginia Bell, SC, who was appointed in January as royal commissioner, delivered an opening statement in Sydney yesterday and revealed the definition of antisemitism she would apply.
Commissioner Bell said the commission “must do its work without risking any prejudice” to criminal proceedings involving alleged gunman Naveed Akram, who was charged with 15 counts of murder and 40 of attempted murder after the mass shooting on December 14.
She said that hearing evidence from “people who may be witnesses in the criminal proceeding would create that risk and, for that reason, it will not occur”.
“The trial of that individual will be the occasion to lead evidence of the attack,” Commissioner Bell said.
Victims’ families are due to meet with the commissioner in private later this week.
Commissioner Bell said she was “required to deliver my final report … not later than the first anniversary of the Bondi massacre”.
She said she would apply the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, namely, “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews”.
Commissioner Bell said it was uncontroversial that criticising Israeli government policy was not, of itself, antisemitic.
Commissioner Bell said she was interested in hearing from Jewish Australians who had experienced antisemitism, “whether at school or at university or in the workplace, or elsewhere”, and making a submission online did not commit them to giving evidence in public.
She was also “mindful that while antisemitism may be the oldest religious and ethnic prejudice, other religions and ethnicities are also subject to prejudice in Australia”.
“I expect that social cohesion will be advanced by measures that address discrimination against religious faiths, ethnicities and cultures generally,” Commissioner Bell said.
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Royal commission rules out eyewitness accounts of Bondi attack (By Michaela Whitbourn, Matthew Knott, Amber Schultz and Eryk Bagshaw, Sydney Morning Herald)
