‘Summer of terror’: Jewish Australians give first testimonies to royal commission into anti-Semitism

The daughter of slain Bondi hero Reuven Morrison has told a royal commission that she’d received hundreds of threats online since the December 14 terror attack — including people wishing she had also been murdered.

Sheina Gutnick was the first Jewish Australian to give testimony at the high-profile probe into anti-Semitism and social cohesion in Sydney on Monday, launched in the wake of the massacre of 15 innocent people at a Hanukkah festival.

The inquiry heard the mass shooting at Australia’s most famous beach came after a “summer of terror” for Jewish Australians, as the October 7 Hamas terror attack triggered a wave of unprecedented hatred towards Jews.

Ms Gutnick said “hateful attitudes” had been “formed and normalised” as part of a “massive shift” towards anti-Semitism in Australia ahead of the attack.

Her 62-year-old father was killed after he bravely hurled bricks at Sajid Akram following fellow hero Ahmed al-Ahmed’s successful effort to disarm the alleged gunman.

Ms Gutnick also spoke of the “deeply alarming” hatred her community has experienced since the Bondi attack, including efforts to downplay the massacre.

“I saw widespread claims online and within the media that the attack was not anti-Semitic. I saw people trying to excuse and justify the events as ‘only anti-Zionist’,” she said.

“We know that misinformation spreads quickly online, driven by influencers and commentators with agendas presenting distortions as fact and embedding a growing acceptance of narratives that excuse, minimise or even promote violence against Jewish people.

“I have received and seen hundreds of comments, including people stating in response to posts that . . . I should have been killed in the Bondi attack, calls to kill Israelis, comments celebrating violence against Jews, as well as claims that attacks against the Jewish community are false flags staged by Jews themselves for attention or sympathy.”

Counsel assisting the commissioner Zelie Heger SC said while the commission wouldn’t be able to hear from all Jewish Australians who provided submissions, a wide-cross section of testimonies were scheduled to represent the community.

It includes rabbis, school principals, security guards and aged care workers. Commissioner Virginia Bell said she expected several witnesses would like to give anonymous testimonies, who would be catered for with pseudonyms and other witness protection measures.

One woman, who testified anonymously, told the inquiry she no longer felt safe to attend synagogues after a string of targeted attacks on Jewish buildings.

“I often don’t go to synagogue anymore because I don’t feel comfortable. I know a lot of Jews who feel exactly the same,” she told counsel assisting Tamara Phillips.

“And when we go to any Jewish function, when we go to synagogue, we make sure that the doors are locked, we make sure that security is where they should be. We make sure we know where the emergency exits are. That is the Jewish way.

“I don’t wear heels anymore, because if I have to run. . . I always say to my kids, if you have to run away, make sure you’re wearing comfy shoes.”

Stephanie Schwartz, the president of the board at Jewish day school Mount Sinai College, said it has had to increase security in the wake of the Bondi massacre.

She described a level of “fear and anxiety amongst our parents, staff and students” after the attack and a targeted an anti-Semitic graffiti incident at the school.

“The level of guarding police presence is much more extreme when you walk past our school. It looks a lot more like a prison than at primary school,” she said, revealing they also undertake risk assessments when taking students to a park across the road.

“Most schools would have a regular fire drill. At our school, we do that, but we also have evacuation drills in the event of a terror attack.”

Other appearances included prominent Jewish community leader Alex Ryvchin, who is the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

Mr Ryvchin spoke about the death threats, street abuse and arson attacks to which he and his community have been subject since October 7, 2023.

He said the Jewish community in Australia has been traumatised by the normalisation of anti-Semitism and insisted there needed to be better education, engagement and consequences to combat it.

“I’ve been abused on the street. I’ve been called a Jewish dog on the streets of Sydney,” he said.

“We’ve had to appoint a security agency that reviews all the online content and the threats, because if I did that myself, it would consume my life and I’d have time for nothing else.

“We’re talking about death threats, threats against my children, my wife, people seeking out my address, threatening my home.

“I’ve dealt with dozens of individuals who, day after day, post about me in a personal way, who trawl through family photos and repost photos of my children.”

Mr Ryvchin said anti-Semitism had been left to fester after the October 7 attack and described a pro-Palestine rally held at the Sydney Opera House in the days immediately after it as a “deplorable scene”.

“When you have behaviour that attracts no consequence, it becomes normalised,” he said.

“You have a Greens Member of Parliament talking about Jewish tentacles wrapped around power and influence in this country, these conspiracy theories abound us now. They’ve been normalised.

“You see eminent Australians, in certain cases, including cardiologists talking about ACO being infiltrated by the Zionist lobby.

“These are educated people who hold these views. And it shows the severity of anti-Semitism.”

Chief minister of The Great Synagogue Rabbi Dr Benjamin Elton told the commission about pro-Palestine protesters harassing the congress.

“Anti-Semitism must be treated as seriously as any other form of bigotry, and that excuses are not made when it comes to anti Semitism,” Rabbi Elton said.

“That when there is violence against Jews, it is not finessed as having certain causes background, which means it should be downplayed and not taken as seriously.”

Holocaust survivor Peter Halasz OAM spoke of his alarm at watching on as anti-Semitism took hold in his adopted country.

After migrating to Australia at 21, he met his wife on Bondi Beach and the duo went on to co-found iconic Australian swimwear brand Seafolly.

“What is happening in Australia today is not a faint echo of a distant past. For those of us who lived through the 1930s and 1940s it is something we recognise. And that recognition is frightening and cause for alarm,” he said.

Throughout the hearings on Monday, witnesses were explicit when describing the hatred they had encountered.

Toby Raphael, vice-president of Newtown Synagogue, recalled someone yelling “You dirty fucking pig Jew” as he walked by a protest at the University of Sydney in April 2024 while wearing a yarmulke.

He also told of swastikas spray painted on the synagogue’s new front fence.

Rabbi Elton shared that a man had yelled at him, “Jew, go home” outside his synagogue. Ms Schwartz also spoke of being the target of abuse, including “Jews are real terrorists”, “Jew dogs” and “Fuck Jews”.

Future hearings will be held at odd hours to allow for international experts to provide evidence, with Commissioner Bell saying that representatives based in the United Kingdom would appear next week.

Commissioner Bell encouraged people to provide submissions before they close on June 14.

The commission released an interim report on April 30 which made 14 recommendations to strengthen counter-terrorism responses.

While five have not been made public, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said those relating to the Commonwealth would be adopted.

The commission has been tasked to report back by the first anniversary of the attack on December 14, 2026.