Source : Perth Now news
Over hours, days and months, the anti-Semitism royal commission has delved into testimony, some of it expert and some personal, on what it means to be Jewish in Australia.
Beginning with first-hand accounts of the Bondi terror attack and potential failures by security agencies, the inquiry broadened its scope to more generally examine the scourge that is anti-Semitism and how to combat it.
In total, 346 witnesses were heard over 62 days and more than 20,000 submissions were received.
Among the deluge of evidence, the commission was told anti-Semitic prejudice in Australian schools, universities and workplaces had risen sharply since October 7, 2023, when terror group Hamas led an attack on Israel, killing more than 1200 people..
The resulting Gaza war has killed more than 80,000 Palestinians, according to local estimates.
Online abuse towards Jewish people in Australia has been common and frequently included deeply offensive tropes or targeted threats, the royal commission heard.
Many of Australia’s Jews no longer feel comfortable openly practising their religion and have been shocked by the hatred they have experienced in a nation they had always considered safe.
Witnesses reported feeling blamed as Jews for the actions of a foreign government.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the community had been branded baby killers and practitioners of genocide.
“A base form of prejudice has been rebranded into something legitimate, even necessary,” he told the inquiry.
“As a consequence of this, our community has suffered immensely and our country has fundamentally changed.
“The commission has all the evidence it needs in terms of what has happened and who has caused it and we now await their report and recommendations.”
Dealing with such a controversial issue against the backdrop of ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza, the royal commission’s work was never going to be easy, nor universally popular.
Its presiding officer, Virginia Bell, dealt with myriad voices heard by the inquiry with the temperament of a beloved school teacher.
Occasionally, this would mean her stepping in to ask more pointed but necessary questions, such as whether witnesses felt a personal connection to Israel, or for their definitions of Zionism.
One of the things the commission sought to do was differentiate legitimate criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism, with some observers saying it failed in that regard.
Others asserted Israel’s actions in Gaza should be an entirely separate issue to anti-Semitism as it has been experienced in Australia.
Australian Jewish Association head Robert Gregory noted much of the evidence had been deeply confronting and had placed on the public record the “extraordinary deterioration in the experience of Australian Jews”.
He called for practical responses to make Jews safer and said the commission should have placed more focus on “Islamist anti-Semitism, extremist ideology (and) the failure of authorities to enforce existing laws”.
“The commission will ultimately be judged not by how many hearings it held or recommendations it produces but by whether anything actually changes,” he said.
“We need practical outcomes.”
Some raised issues with the Jewish perspectives being represented at the commission and questioned whether they were reflective of the broader diversity of opinion within the community.
Interviewed by the commission, the son of Jewish immigrants and an academic, Dennis Altman, thought the inquiry could have taken a broader scope with the topic of social cohesion.
“In some ways, it fosters anti-Semitism by creating the idea that somehow we should be more concerned about attacks on Jews than attacks on other groups in the community,” he said.
Mr Altman also expressed regret the commission didn’t take more of a view of the school system as a potential vehicle for improving social cohesion.
“What I’d like to see is a much greater emphasis on bringing together different groups in the community,” he said.
“Including a real reckoning with the fact Australia has a very large number of religious-based schools, which means kids grow up with virtually no contact with anybody outside their religious or ethnic community.
“I think that is one of the greatest threats to social cohesion.”
A final report from the commission is due by December 18.
