An Australian Jewish leader has become emotional recounting his experience during the Bondi terror attack. <\/p>\n
The former President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Lesli Berger gave a tearful testimony when recalling being separated from his family during the Bondi attack on December 14. <\/p>\n
He spoke of how his two youngest children were at home and felt \u201ccompletely panicked\u201d, while his oldest son was visiting a friend\u2019s house in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were terrified,\u201d he told the royal commission on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy middle son called his best friend because he was so terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Berger then became emotional when discussing his children\u2019s response and that he couldn\u2019t be with them as the attack unfolded. <\/p>\n
\u201cI find it difficult to talk about this\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt that I had failed as a parent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also described the moment his son discovered a swastika had been painted on his home in Sydney almost a year earlier. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a huge shock. I just honestly, even when I look at this picture now, I can\u2019t believe this happened to my home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Berger said his son tried to hide the graffiti from his daughter so she wouldn\u2019t become traumatised and that a police investigation into the matter came back with no firm leads. <\/p>\n
\u201cParticularly once my daughter found out about it, it made them feel quite unsafe and uncomfortable in their own home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Anti-Semitism royal commission: millions spent on aftermath of Hamas attack<\/p>\n
The NSW Premier\u2019s Department spent nearly $2.5m to increase the security of the Jewish community in the wake of the Hamas terror attack.<\/p>\n
NSW Premier\u2019s Department Secretary Simon Draper said that the sums had been spent by the Premier\u2019s Department between October 7 2023 and June 22 2026 for the improvement of Jewish community security.<\/p>\n
Mr Draper said the largest portion of the money was $1.5m and was granted to the Jewish Board of Deputies in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack. <\/p>\n
He noted how the Jewish Board of Deputies, alongside the Jewish community service groups (CSGs) and NSW Police, provided input on how funding should be allocated to vulnerable organisations like places of worship and schools. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver the following days, we took advice from all of those players about the types of measures that might be required because of the increased risks that was made clear by the attacks themselves and the concerns the community held.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did move very quickly in making sure those funds were available.\u201d<\/p>\n
The funding came from the Premier\u2019s discretionary and contingency funds which can be accessed for \u201chighly disruptive\u201d events with an \u201curgent security need\u201d. <\/p>\n
Mr Draper also personally approved a grant of $338,000 from the contingency fund between December 7 2024 and January 14 2025 due to an \u201cobvious and profound heightening\u201d of anti-Semitic attacks, the royal commission heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver that period, Hanukkah had passed, but the rate of anti-Semitic attacks had accelerated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a series of attacks on Jewish, and members of the Jewish communities homes and on places of worship, schools and other locations, so that was probably the most significant trigger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were advised by the Jewish Board of Deputies that funding was going to be needed, to be continued.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huge amount Jewish safety costs Australia<\/p>\n
Almost 200 Jewish groups have applied to access federal government grant money to improve security over the next three years. <\/p>\n
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim outlined to the anti-Semitism royal commission on Thursday how the $124m in available funding to improve safety standards would be spent.<\/p>\n
He said more than 190 organisations had applied for grants, money that the National Council for Jewish Community Security would allocate over the next three years. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe amounts that we\u2019ve requested are always estimates based on what has occurred up to the point where we provide that estimate,\u201d Mr Wertheim said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo in a sense, we\u2019re always playing catch-up because the costs keep increasing and the level of need for security measures keeps increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Wertheim said while initial government funding totalled $102m, an additional $22m was allocated to increase the funding under the Enhancing Security for Jewish Communities program. <\/p>\n
An one-off $22m payment will also be provided to upgrade infrastructure to a site in Sydney. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the amounts are significant and they\u2019re generous and very much appreciated, they\u2019re always less than what it turns out is required,\u201d Mr Wertheim said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think there could be much deeper and earlier consultation between us and the government before a grant period expires so that we can assess the current situation, the likely needs that are emerging, and a quantification of the cost of meeting those needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like to see the government meet all of the security costs of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jewish hate exposed<\/p>\n
Jewish community members have been called \u201cZionist scum\u201d and had swastikas painted on buildings and cars in a growing rise of anti-Semitic attacks across Australia. <\/p>\n
Giving evidence at an anti-Semitism royal commission on Thursday, Rabbi Allison Conyer, a psychologist and the first woman rabbi in NSW, said Jewish people were told they would be hunted and described how communities in Australia had become a \u201cden of bigotry\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA young adult once told me that she was walking in our neighbourhood and someone was driving by,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey rolled down the window and said, \u2018Are you Jewish? Do you know where the Jews are? We\u2019re hunting Jews\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabbi Conyer spoke about the \u201cnormalisation or acceptance\u201d of anti-Semitic attacks, giving specific examples of swastikas being painted on buildings and cars and Jewish community members being called \u201cZionist scum\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAn old lady went to my son, who was wearing a kippah, a head covering, and said to him, \u2018This is where you belong, Jew\u2019 and pointed to her bottom,\u201d Rabbi Conyer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is blatant anti-Semitism hiding itself and using anti-Zionism as an excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
More to come<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian Jewish leader has become emotional recounting his experience during the Bondi terror attack. 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