{"id":5124,"date":"2026-05-05T10:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/5124\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:23:09","slug":"firefighter-threatened-to-skin-jewish-paramedic-antisemitism-royal-commission-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/5124\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighter threatened to ‘skin’ Jewish paramedic, antisemitism royal commission told"},"content":{"rendered":"

A firefighter pulled a hunting knife on a Jewish paramedic and threatened to “skin him” at a music festival in regional Victoria, a royal commission into antisemitism has heard.<\/p>\n

Victorian paramedic Joshua Gomperts told the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion he experienced antisemitism for the first time when he was glassed as a teenager while wearing a kippah.<\/p>\n

The royal commission was called to assess the circumstances surrounding the Bondi terror attack, which killed 15 people on December 14 and the spread of antisemitism that preceded it.<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts on Tuesday said some years after being glassed he volunteered as a paramedic at a New Year’s Eve music festival in regional Victoria and was relaxing with other emergency service personnel when a firefighter made a comment about Mr Gomperts’s Jewish heritage.<\/p>\n

He said the man pulled out a large hunting knife and told him: “I would skin you the way my family skinned yours in the camps.”<\/p>\n

The comment was overheard and responded to by police, with the firefighter’s managers arriving later to replace the music festival crew.<\/p>\n

Paramedic recounts synagogue firebombing<\/p>\n

In addition to his work with St John Ambulance, Mr Gomperts volunteered with emergency medical service Hatzolah in Melbourne between 2021 and 2025.<\/p>\n

He said he attended a protest shortly after the events of October 7, 2023 in which more than 1,200 people were killed by Hamas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those involved in the action, journalists and bystanders were injured by pepper spray and objects thrown into the crowd.<\/p>\n

A makeshift triage centre was set up at a nearby house, with Mr Gomperts saying he and fellow volunteers “treated anybody and everybody”.<\/p>\n

He said security was requested when treating pro-Palestinian protest attendees.<\/p>\n

Later in 2024, he said he heard screams over the Hatzolah radio related to the firebombing of Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne’s south-east.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Fire crews were called to the Adass Israel Synagogue in December 2024. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts said he had not known the nature of the incident until he saw the smoke coming from the building as he approached the scene.<\/p>\n

He said he reported the blaze to police, fearing it was a terrorist attack.<\/p>\n

“Something didn’t seem right,” he told the commission.<\/p>\n

“At the time we thought that there was still attackers around.”<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts said he fled the scene for fear of his safety.<\/p>\n

Patient performed Nazi salute<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts experienced antisemitism in the workplace again when he was called to conduct a patient transport from a hospital.<\/p>\n

While he was reading the patient’s medical notes, Mr Gomperts said the man in his 90s performed a Nazi salute.<\/p>\n

When he asked the patient why he had done so, Mr Gomperts said the man told him he was an “old Nazi” and did not want a Jewish man to touch him.<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts said he and his colleague left the scene and another crew took over.<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts said his colleague had been “appalled” by the patient’s behaviour.<\/p>\n

\"St<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts, who worked with St John Ambulance, said his colleague had been “appalled” by the patient’s behaviour. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)<\/p>\n

But he said not all of his peers have been supportive of his heritage, with one colleague at another emergency incident asking him: “As a Jew, how can you support the killing of babies?”<\/p>\n

“I gave him a bewildered look \u2026 we hadn’t been talking about Israel,” Mr Gomperts said.Unable to change exam date<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old said he also experienced antisemitism at university when he requested to sit an exam on another date due to the test being scheduled on a Jewish holy day.<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts said he was asked to meet with the university board, who advised they could not move the exam based on religious grounds.<\/p>\n

“I was quite shocked. I went and sought legal advice,” he said.Jewish mother says ‘olden-day’ antisemitism risks safety of her children<\/a><\/p>\n

Jewish woman Natalie Levy had an idyllic childhood growing up singing songs on Bondi Beach, but her children now attend school surrounded by heavy security and swastikas graffitied on buildings.<\/p>\n

Mr Gomperts said once he had informed the university he had a barrister on call, his request was accommodated.<\/p>\n

He said he sat the exam with about four other students who could not attend the scheduled test due to family functions, not religious reasons.<\/p>\n

He said none had experienced issues with their requests or been asked to meet with the university board.<\/p>\n

The first set of hearings at the royal commission will run until May 15 with a final report due a year from the date of the Bondi attack.<\/p>\n

More on the royal commission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A firefighter pulled a hunting knife on a Jewish paramedic and threatened to “skin him” at a music…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,1544,257,2811,2799,2813,1541,2810,2812],"class_list":{"0":"post-5124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-austrlia","10":"tag-bondi-beach-shooting","11":"tag-bondi-beach-terror-attack","12":"tag-bondi-beach-terrorist-attack","13":"tag-bondi-royal-commission","14":"tag-hearings","15":"tag-royal-commission-on-antisemitism-and-social-cohesion","16":"tag-the-royal-commission-on-antisemitism-and-social-cohesion","17":"tag-virginia-bell"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5124","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=5124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}