A substitute teacher performed \u201cseveral\u201d Heil Hitler salutes to a classroom, a royal commission has heard, with students left \u201cdeeply shocked\u201d by the incident.<\/p>\n
The salutes were given by a substitute English teacher while giving a lecture about a book that was \u201ctotally unrelated to Israel and Palestine issues\u201d, a witness to the royal commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion said.<\/p>\n
No further details about the incident, including the date and school, were revealed.<\/p>\n
A witness, known by AAL to preserve their anonymity, was speaking on the first day of the royal commission set up in the wake of the Bondi massacre.<\/p>\n
The witness said the salutes were given shortly after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, adding: \u201cFor some reason, this teacher performed several Heil Hitler salutes. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy granddaughter was 13, 14 at the stage, left the classroom was deeply shocked, wrote a very polite email to the principal as well as to her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the best of my knowledge and my daughter\u2019s knowledge and my granddaughter, nothing seemed to have happened. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, it was invisible. The teacher, I believe, was still there or wasn\u2019t fired.<\/p>\n
Sydney school brought in \u2018terror attack\u2019 safety drills<\/p>\n
A Jewish-day school in Sydney has implemented evacuation drills to prepare for terror attacks, the school\u2019s president Stefanie Schwartz told the hearing on Monday while detailing how anti-Semitic attacks in the wake of October 7 had stoked \u201cfear and anxiety\u201d among parents, students and staff.\u201cWe have seen a significant increase (in security concerns) since the October 7th attacks in Israel, then after an anti-Semitic graffiti incident at our school, and then again after the Bondi attacks,\u201d Ms Schwartz said. <\/p>\n
Additional guards have been brought into the school as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would imagine that 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
ADF reservist speaks of anti-Semitic jokes made during army exercise<\/p>\n
A reserve member of the Australian Defence Force, known only as Ben, took the stand as a witness to speak of an incident where \u2018Jews in the oven\u2019 and \u2018Jews made into soap\u2019 jokes were made among section commanders and his subordinates. <\/p>\n
Ben said, in early years of his service while enlisted as a private he was part of an exercise, where the section commander \u201ccreated a permissive environment for other subordinates under his command\u201d to make these anti-Semitic jokes. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt started out with a joke about the Jews and the oven, and then it evolved into Jews being made into soap and it got quite uncomfortable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Golden years\u2019 of Australia gone: Slain Bondi hero\u2019s daughter <\/p>\n
Sheina Gutnick said the \u201cgolden years\u201d in Australia are gone, with Jewish Australians now \u201cre-experiencing age old hatred\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a beautiful few golden years in Australia where we truly lived in harmony with the rest of the community, with freedom,\u201d Ms Gutnick said while speaking to media outside the hearing on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd unfortunately, we\u2019re now at a time where we\u2019re re-experiencing age-old hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said her father, Reuven Morrison, would want to instil pride within the Jewish community if he were here to see the royal commission. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the same time, (he would want to) ensure that measures are taken to eradicate this hatred that unfortunately he grew up with, my parents grew up with,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Doxxing, arson and graffiti<\/p>\n
Jewish-Australians experienced a \u201csummer of terror\u201d in the wake of the Hamas terror attack and subsequent war in Gaza, the commission heard earlier on Monday.<\/p>\n
Six hundred Jewish creatives who had joined a private WhatsApp were doxxed in February 2024, the commission was told as counsel assisting the commissioner Zelie Heger SC spoke of the \u201csummer of terror\u201d. <\/p>\n
This included the arson attacks on the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne, a kosher catering business in Bondi, the Newtown Synagogue, as well as anti-Semitic graffiti attacks through Woollahra. <\/p>\n
Alex Ryvchin\u2019s former home was also defaced with anti-Israel graffiti.<\/p>\n
Ms Heger SC added that the discovery of explosives in a caravan in Dural, while proven to be a fabricated terrorist plot, was nonetheless \u201cdeeply alarming\u201d as it was \u201cdesigned to create fear in the Jewish community\u201d.<\/p>\n
Witness speaks of \u2018chaos\u2019 at Opera House protest <\/p>\n
Another anonymous witness, known only as AAL, said they had seen a man holding an Israeli flag being marched by police with his arms behind his back at the Opera House on October 9. <\/p>\n
Police told them the man \u201ccould be inciting violence\u201d, with AAL telling officers \u201cthe violence is there\u201d, where a flag was being burnt in the distance.<\/p>\n
AAL told the officers \u201cI\u2019m watching you\u201d as they released the man. <\/p>\n
The witness described seeing \u201cchaos\u201d and hearing \u201clots of screaming and shouting\u201d at the Opera House.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a wild, maddened crown,\u201d AAL said, telling the hearing police were confronting a man \u201cwho didn\u2019t seem to be a danger\u201d while claiming other officers had their backs to the rest of the crowd.<\/p>\n
Witness felt \u2018incredibly uncomfortable\u2019 on October 9 protest<\/p>\n
One of the witnesses, given the pseudonym AAK, said she walked by a protest organised by a Palestinian group at Town Hall while making her way home from her office. <\/p>\n
She said: \u201cVery quickly I began to feel incredibly uncomfortable. I felt that I shouldn\u2019t be there, and it wasn\u2019t a safe place to be a Jewish person, and so I continued on to Town Hall and made my way home.\u201d<\/p>\n
She described it as a sixth sense which a Jewish person with a history of \u201cmany generations of discrimination\u201d feels. <\/p>\n
\u201cI started feeling a rush of adrenaline and a really strong feeling that it wasn\u2019t a safe place to be a Jewish person,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
AAK said they were \u201cvery grateful\u201d to have left the city before the protest at the Opera House on October 9, 2023, telling the hearing they were \u201cincredibly disappointed\u201d but not surprised with how things turned out that evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were incredibly disappointed that the police hadn\u2019t stepped in at a point before things got as bad as they did,\u201d AAK told the hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMyself and many others were a little bit in shock that we were witnessing flags being burnt at the Opera House, which is such an un-Australian thing to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was also the conversation at the time \u2026 if we could see this happen so close to October 7 and no one had stepped in at the time to step in \u2026 where would we go from here? <\/p>\n
How would it get better, after we had seen flags being burnt at the public icon that is the Opera House?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Slain Bondi hero met wife at same beach he was killed at<\/p>\n
Sheina Gutnick said her father, Reuven Morrison, had fled to Australia when he was just 14. <\/p>\n
He met his wife on Bondi Beach, a place where she now holds \u201cconflicted feelings\u201d about after her father was killed on that very beach on December 14.<\/p>\n
\u201cBondi holds many complicated and conflicted feelings for me \u2026 it was somewhere where my parents started their history together,\u201d Ms Gutnick told the hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had spent many days of my childhood (there)<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now Bondi holds a really, really heavy weight in our community\u2019s heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Gutnick spoke of how she had seen people claim online and in the media that the Bondi attack was \u201conly anti-Zionist\u201d, telling the hearing she has seen a significant shift in anti-Semitism since October 2023. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt as though anti-Semitism was being allowed to come into the open,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden it was socially, morally acceptable for anti-Semitic comments to be made in public discourse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has shifted in such a massive way that has been deeply alarming for all community members.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Should have gassed them\u2019: Horror abuse exposed in hearing<\/p>\n
A Jewish student was told \u201cHitler should have gassed them all\u201d by another student while on a public bus, Ms Heger said while sharing stories of anti-Semitic abuse at the beginning of the hearing on Monday.<\/p>\n
School students are using \u201cdirty Jew\u201d as an insult, she said. <\/p>\n
The hearing was also told how a Jewish man who was on his way to a bus stop wearing a kippah when a man called him a \u201cdirty Jew\u201d, performed a Nazi salute, and \u201cdirected a gun finger gesture towards him\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne bystander intervened to try to help. The large crowd nearby did nothing,\u201d Ms Heger said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was deeply disturbed by this event. It left him feeling isolated and exposed in his own neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jewish people have taken to trying to mask their Jewish identity in public so they are not \u201cvulnerable to attack\u201d, Ms Heger said, with some avoiding travelling to the CBD and feeling unsafe in public spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cExperiences of anti-Semitism change the way the Jewish community think, feel and move throughout the world,\u201d Ms Heger said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany members of the Jewish community have ancestors who died in or survived the Holocaust, and that intergenerational trauma they carry can magnify that anxiety and fear. They wonder if history is repeating itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
October 7 attack marked a significant turning point for anti-Semitism in Australia<\/p>\n
Ms Heger said the October 7 attack on Israel marked a significant turning point for anti-Semitism in Australia. <\/p>\n
She described anti-Semitism \u201cas one of the society\u2019s oldest hatreds and has existed in one way or another for centuries\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 2023, during which 1200 Israelis were murdered and 250 were taken hostage, marked a significant turning point for anti-Semitism in Australia,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the immediate aftermath of that attack on October 9, a demonstration took place in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, where its sails had been lit up in the colours of the Israeli flag, in solidarity with the victims and Israeli and Jewish communities. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn a time when those communities were in a period of deep mourning, some participants in that protest chanted F–k the Jews! Or where are the Jews? And we\u2019ll hear evidence about that event and the fear and anxiety created in the community,\u201d Ms Heger said.<\/p>\n
Daughter of slain Bondi hero to be called as witness <\/p>\n
The daughter of one of the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack and prominent Jewish community leader Alex Ryvchin will be among the first witnesses at the Royal Commission on anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion.<\/p>\n
The first block of hearings before commissioner Virginia Bell begin in Sydney on Monday.<\/p>\n
Twelve witnesses are due to be called on Monday, including Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was killed in the deadly Bondi Beach attack on December 14.<\/p>\n
Footage captured Mr Morrison throwing objects at one of the alleged gunmen.<\/p>\n
\u2018Harrowing\u2019: Holocaust survivor to give \u2018moving evidence <\/p>\n
Holocaust survivor Peter Halas is due to give \u201cmoving evidence\u201d on Monday, reflecting on the Bondi attack and asking the commission to consider \u201chow a country like Australia arrived at this point\u201d, senior counsel assisting the inquiry Richard Lancaster SC said. <\/p>\n
He added evidence to be given by courageous witnesses during the first hearing block will be a \u201charrowing appreciation of the serious nature and wide incidence of anti-Semitism\u201d across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the witnesses who are courageously appearing to give evidence in this hearing block, any debate about definitions is not material,\u201d Mr Lancaster said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach of them has been impacted by anti-Semitism, and the collective effect of their evidence will be a harrowing appreciation of the serious nature and wide incidence of anti-Semitism in contemporary Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bondi attack will also be investigated<\/p>\n
The circumstances surrounding the Bondi attack will be probed during the second hearing block slated for the end of May, while the third block is set to explore the radicalisation that may be generated through online hate and anti-Semitism on social media, Mr Lancaster told the hearing.<\/p>\n
Holocaust survivor to give evidence<\/p>\n
Holocaust survivor Peter Halas OAM is due to give evidence on Monday, Ms Bell said while opening the hearing on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday and over the next two weeks the focus will be on my first term of reference which requires investigation of the nature and prevalence of anti-Semitism in institutions and society,\u201d Ms Bell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are several strands to this first term an important. One requires me to assess the impact of anti-Semitism on the daily life of Jewish Australians with respect to their security, their physical and mental health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fitting that we begin by taking evidence from ordinary members of the Jewish community about their lived experience of anti-Semitism.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the sharp spike in anti-Semitism appears to be clearly linked with events in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Evidence of the number of anti-Semitic incidents reported to Jewish organisations over the last few years is set to be presented during the first hearing block, including from ECAJ\u2019s annual reports. <\/p>\n
Two members of the public were able to snag a seat in the hearing room, which had only about 20 seats inside. <\/p>\n
Media were unable to sit inside, having to flock to an overflow room in Clarence Street.<\/p>\n
What the royal commission will hear<\/p>\n
The witnesses will talk about their lived experiences of anti-Semitism, with Mr Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, to be the first community leader in the witness box on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about justice for the dead, their families and those whose lives were permanently transformed,\u201d Mr Ryvchin told The Australian.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about answering the questions that allow us to heal and emerge stronger and ensure that this \u00admisery is inflicted on no other Australians.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about wrenching this country out of a flaccid mindset that allows extremism and incitement to flourish and for the worst among us to dictate how the good and decent live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fifteen innocent people were killed while dozens of others were injured after Naveed Akram and his father, Sajid, allegedly opened fire at the Chanukah By The Sea event on December 14 last year.<\/p>\n
Akram has yet to enter pleas to 59 charges, including 40 counts of attempted murder. His father was shot dead by police. The pair are alleged to have been inspired by ISIS. <\/p>\n
The two-week hearing will focus on defining anti-Semitism, its prevalence in Australia and how to assess its prevalence in society and institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis commission is the most significant national examination of anti-Semitism in Australia\u2019s history,\u201d Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the next fortnight, the country will hear from the people who lead our community alongside ordinary Australians who have lived through what happens when words of hatred go unchallenged long enough that they stop being only words. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Jewish community is approaching this as Australians asking Australian institutions to look honestly at what has happened in this country and what needs to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Members of the public will be able to watch the hearings via a livestream, as public seating will be limited inside the building.<\/p>\n
Why Albanese called royal commission<\/p>\n
Anthony Albanese announced the royal commission on January 8 \u2013 25 days after the Bondi Beach attacks \u2013 following weeks of pressure on the government <\/p>\n
The government had already ordered a review by former ASIO head Dennis Richardson into the actions of security agencies before the attack but argued a royal commission could platform anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve listened, and in a democracy, that\u2019s a good thing to listen to what people are saying,\u201d the Prime Minister said of the backflip at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what people are saying is, yes, we\u2019re concerned about the events, and the Richardson review will give consideration to those national security issues, where there any gaps or anything else, but we want an opportunity to tell our story about what occurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve taken the time to reflect, to meet with leaders in the Jewish community, and most importantly, I\u2019ve met with many of the families of victims and survivors of that horrific attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear to me that a royal commission is essential to achieving this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The royal commission will cover four key areas:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tackling anti-Semitism by investigating the nature and prevalence of it in institutions and society, and its key drivers in Australia, including ideologically and religiously motivated extremism and radicalisation;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Making recommendations that will assist law enforcement, border control, immigration, and security agencies to tackle anti-Semitism;<\/p>\n
\u2013 Examining the circumstances surrounding the anti-Semitic Bondi terrorist attack on December 14, 2025<\/p>\n
\u2022 Making any other recommendations arising out of the inquiry for strengthening social cohesion in Australia and countering the spread of ideologically and religiously motivated extremism.<\/p>\n
\u201cA royal commission is not the beginning or the end of what Australia must do to eradicate anti-Semitism, protect ourselves from terrorism or strengthen our social cohesion,\u2019\u2019 the Prime Minister said at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is an ongoing national effort, for all of us. Because an attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on all Australians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interim report handed down<\/p>\n
The beginning of public hearings comes days after Ms Bell released an interim report with 14 recommendations, all of which Mr Albanese has vowed to accept. <\/p>\n
The recommendations include calls to heighten security during Jewish High Holy Days and Jewish festivals, and refine counter-terror co-operation between federal and state agencies.<\/p>\n
The state of the country\u2019s gun laws was also thrown into the spotlight, as Ms Bell suggested efforts for a national gun buyback scheme and to bring in an updated and more consistent national firearms agreement should be prioritised. <\/p>\n
She has also asked for the role of commonwealth counter-terrorism co-ordinator to become full-time. <\/p>\n
The prime minister will be required to take part in counter-terror exercises within nine months of each federal election along with all ministers on the National Security Committee upon the implementation of another of the recommendations.<\/p>\n
Five of the recommendations have been kept confidential for national security reasons.<\/p>\n
Mr Albanese said he would \u201crespond swiftly\u201d to the recommendations. <\/p>\n
The royal commission\u2019s final report is due to be handed down on December 14, marking one year since the fatal attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A substitute teacher performed \u201cseveral\u201d Heil Hitler salutes to a classroom, a royal commission has heard, with students…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5506,5505,483,5499,3419,23,133,2798,5498,5496,5502,5507,1949,5508,5501,222,3328,5509,5495,5497,1538,355,1293,120,5504,2817,5510,5503,2801,5500,247,2812],"class_list":{"0":"post-4237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sydney","8":"tag-alleged-terror","9":"tag-anne-sheehan","10":"tag-anthony-albanese","11":"tag-anti-semitism-commission","12":"tag-antisemitism-royal-commission","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","15":"tag-bondi-beach","16":"tag-cohesion-virginia-bell","17":"tag-commonwealth-counter-terrorism-co-ordinator","18":"tag-counter-terror-co-operation","19":"tag-counter-terror-exercises","20":"tag-federal-election","21":"tag-final-report","22":"tag-gerard-martin-psm","23":"tag-gun-laws","24":"tag-interim-report","25":"tag-national-firearms-agreement","26":"tag-national-security-committee","27":"tag-national-security-reasons","28":"tag-naveed-akram","29":"tag-new-south-wales","30":"tag-newswire-court","31":"tag-oceania","32":"tag-official-secretary","33":"tag-royal-commission","34":"tag-royal-commissioner","35":"tag-sajid","36":"tag-sam-mostyn","37":"tag-social-cohesion-virginia","38":"tag-sydney","39":"tag-virginia-bell"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}