{"id":54792,"date":"2026-07-21T02:02:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T02:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/54792\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T02:02:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T02:02:16","slug":"melbourne-jews-feel-safer-in-israel-royal-commission-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/54792\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne Jews feel safer in Israel, royal commission told"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne families are migrating to Israel over continual anti-Semitic abuse in Australia.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Klein, who sits on the board of Melbourne\u2019s Adass Israel Synagogue which was firebombed in December 2024, said \u201cgood Aussie people\u201d were leaving because of hatred.<\/p>\n

Giving evidence on Tuesday, Mr Klein said some Jewish Australian families see Israel as safer than Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s two people from my son\u2019s class who have picked themselves up and moved to Israel. Those stories never used to happen. We never heard of that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, people were proud to live in Melbourne. They were part of the Australian community. But now there\u2019s good Aussie people picking up themselves up and moving to Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s weird because if you think to yourself, Israel is not necessarily a safe place, there\u2019s lots going on there and there\u2019s these wars \u2026 it\u2019s quite a scary place, but they\u2019re still picking themselves up from Melbourne and moving to Israel,\u201d Mr Klein said.<\/p>\n

The Royal Commission on anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion resumed its fifth block of hearings on Tuesday, with this week focused on security measures in the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

The ultra orthodox Jewish Australian community has seen a marked increase in anti-Semitic abuse since the end of 2023, Mr Klein said.<\/p>\n

The Adass synagogue could well be the busiest in the southern hemisphere, Mr Klein told the commission, but many devotees still did not feel safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to think to yourself, why are people doing that (leaving for Israel)? Why are rational, successful accountants, lawyers, doctors picking themselves up and moving to Israel? \u201cAnd the answer is they just don\u2019t feel safe. They just don\u2019t feel self safe.\u201d Mr Klein said.<\/p>\n

The December 2024 firebombing is subject to an ongoing criminal court case, so details of the incident were not discussed at the royal commission.<\/p>\n

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has previously revealed Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ordered the firebombing.<\/p>\n

Anti-Jewish hate causing brain drain, inquiry hears<\/p>\n

Rabbi of Central Synagogue Sydney, Rabbi Levi Wolff, said Australia is losing highly skilled citizens amid heightened anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Wolff was asked if the synagogue had seen families leave Sydney recently; he said \u201cmany, many families\u201d had \u201cbrought properties and apartments in Israel\u201d. <\/p>\n

Counsel assisting the royal commission, Richard Lancaster SC, did not ask Rabbi Wolff to clarify his response.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m saddened that Australia is losing people who wanted nothing more than to build their life and to build and contribute to this beautiful country,\u201d Rabbi Wolff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read an article a few weeks ago of a group of 100 doctors, 100 Jewish doctors, who came together to talk about plans of leaving this country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia isn\u2019t just losing Jewish doctors. They\u2019re losing people who contribute to make this place what it is. We\u2019re looking for doctors in this country losing professionals and business owners, community builders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Central Synagogue has been doing surveys of members to gauge and collate anti-Semitic incidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quoting all this from their response; \u2018I declined to put my religion on my admission form at a time when I felt most vulnerable and at the mercy of others, I felt the need to shield myself by not openly identifying as a Jew\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another respondent felt unsafe putting a religious symbol above their front door.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Australia, no one should have to have courage to simply place a symbol of their faith on the doorpost of their very own home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The vilification of Jewish Australians, Rabbi Wolff said, was an insult to hundreds of years of history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want Australians to stand with the Jewish community, they must first understand the Jewish community. Jews have been part of this country since the First Fleet in 1788. They have served in our armed forces and thousands have paid the ultimate price. <\/p>\n

\u201cJews have built and advanced medicine and law, science, education and philanthropy. We are a tiny community, but one that has always sought to contribute far more than our size. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is why I remain, commissioner, very optimistic. I\u2019m optimistic because I\u2019ve now lived here almost 30 years and I\u2019ve experienced extraordinary decency and fairness and generosity from normal great Aussies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Wolff said since October 2023, many Jewish Australians felt the need to justify their right to live here.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine having to walk around and get abused in the street for just being a member of a faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Rabbi Wolff visits family back in New York, he says Jews in the US are shocked at the state of affairs in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last three and a half years, I cannot tell you, commissioner, how many comments people tell me as soon as I say I\u2019m from Australia, the first thing is \u2018what\u2019s going on in Australia, what\u2019s happened to Australia?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is such a shock for people in the States to hear of the level of anti-Semitism that exists in this country. It\u2019s a very sad reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Virginia Bell asked Rabbi Wolff whether \u201cpeople who are protesting, on behalf of Palestinians\u2019 right to self-determination, are not expressing a value that is inconsistent with Australian values?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Wolff said: \u201cI often hear people say, I\u2019m not anti-Jewish. I\u2019m simply anti-Zionist. And in the same breath, in the same breath, they deny the Jewish people\u2019s spiritual, historical and indigenous connection to their ancestral land.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it\u2019s almost like saying I\u2019m not racist against Aboriginal Australians; I absolutely love you, I just simply don\u2019t believe that you have any cultural or historical connection to this land.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Rabbi also equated criticism of the Israeli regime with intimidation of Australian Jews.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen crowds march through the streets of Sydney and Melbourne and everywhere else in this beautiful country and chant, \u2018Death to Israel, death to the IDF\u2019, Jewish Australians do not hear a nuanced political debate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hear threats directed to their families and to their communities, and hatred expressed in the streets rarely stays in the streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cHatred spreads into classrooms, it spreads into universities, into workplaces where people in my community have to think twice about wearing a Star of David when they go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rabbi then drew a link between these attitudes and the Bondi Beach terror attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWords shape culture and culture shapes behaviour. And behaviour left unchecked becomes violent. And I saw that on the streets and on the beaches of Bondi. So if it\u2019s left unchecked, there are 15 beautiful souls that are unfortunately not here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

More to come<\/p>\n

Read related topics:Israel<\/a>\"Blair<\/a><\/p>\n

Blair Jackson is a reporter for the national wire service, NewsWire, based in Melbourne. His journalism career has led from Perth, to New Zealand, to Queensland and now Victoria. While covering everything for the wire service, he is most interested in money; how people spend it, how corporations try to entice it and how banks look after it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne families are migrating to Israel over continual anti-Semitic abuse in Australia. 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