A Holocaust survivor has told the royal commission into antisemitism that Jews in Australia “have become targets” and that he is scared to wear his Star of David in public. Source: ABC News.
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was established about a month after the Bondi Beach terror attack, in which 15 people were killed and dozens more injured at a Hannukah event on December 14.
“I lived through what hatred can do to people … what is happening in Australia today is not a faint echo of a distant past [but] something recognised … and cause for alarm,” Peter Halasz told the royal commission yesterday.
Mr Halasz said he never believed he would ever be “afraid to wear my Star of David” in public again.
“Jews in Australia have become targets, it brings back memories; I lived with antisemitism next to me for 17 years.
“I think people should learn what’s going on … we are asking nothing more than the right to live.”
Zelie Heger SC, a counsel assisting the commissioner, identified the attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, in which more than 1200 people were killed by Hamas, as a “significant turning point of antisemitism”.
She said this was experienced through doxxing, graffiti, heckling and synagogues being targeted.
“We’ve heard many new stories of Jewish Australians going about their daily lives and being exposed to … attacks and more flippant, subtle antisemitism,” she said.
“Hatred is louder and more emboldened than ever.”
Former high court judge Virginia Bell SC earlier delivered her opening remarks in her capacity as royal commissioner.
“The sharp spike … that we’ve witnessed in Australia has been mirrored in other Western countries and seems clearly linked to events in the Middle East,” Commissioner Bell said.
The commissioner said “images and sentiments” of antisemitism could be traced as far back as the Middle Ages.
Counsel assisting, Richard Lancaster SC, said the royal commission would seek to understand how antisemitism “manifests in Australia” as well as the “current character of antisemitism” in the country.
The commission has received more than 7400 submissions, with more expected throughout its duration.
Two more hearing blocks are scheduled, with a final report due a year to the date of the terror attack.
FULL STORY
Royal commission into antisemitism told of ‘real-world consequences of hatred’ (By Millie Roberts, ABC News)
