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<\/p>\nHer name and face concealed for protection, a 13-year-old girl told a royal commission on antisemitism she no longer felt safe being Jewish in Australia.<\/p>\n
The teenager has so far been the youngest person to give evidence at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which was announced in the wake of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.<\/p>\n
Fifteen people were killed during the shooting at a Hanukkah celebration by the beach on December 14.<\/p>\n
The royal commission is examining the circumstances of the incident and the spread of antisemitism in Australia that preceded it.<\/p>\n
Witnesses have included a relative of someone killed in the shooting, Holocaust survivors and health workers affected by antisemitism in the workplace.<\/p>\n
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The royal commission is looking at the spread of antisemitism in Australia. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)<\/p>\n
A large number used pseudonyms to protect their identity and safety.<\/p>\n
As a further protection, the anonymous girl addressed the commission through a voice recording which was not formally tabled to the inquiry.<\/p>\n
‘Worried to be a Jewish kid’<\/p>\n
Her young voice was heard over the commission live stream on Wednesday, recounting how she was at a bat mitzvah party at Bondi Pavillion when the celebration was locked down due to the shooting.<\/p>\n
She did not hear the gunfire but watched hundreds running from the scene at nearby Archer Park.<\/p>\n
“I still don’t like to see the [pedestrian] bridge when go to Bondi,” the girl said.<\/p>\n
“It makes me feel worried to be a Jewish kid in Australia.”<\/p>\n
She said she has friends who jump at the sound of a balloon popping and avoid playing laser tag in the wake of the attack.<\/p>\n
“A lot of my friends are now scared to have a sleepover or go on school camp because they don’t want to be away from their parents and are worried something bad might happen again.”<\/p>\n
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Fifteen people were killed during the December 14 terrorist attack at Bondi Beach. (ABC News: Monish Nand)<\/p>\n
The girl said her father wanted to enrol her in self-defence classes after the terror attack in “case anyone tries to hurt me because I am Jewish”.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think Jewish kids should be scared to live normally like other kids do, it’s not fair,” she said.<\/p>\n
Almost all witnesses told the commission they noticed a marked increase in antisemitic incidents and rhetoric after October 7, 2023 where 1,200 people were killed when Hamas attacked Israel.<\/p>\n
Military and civilian hostages were also taken back to Gaza, and Israel subsequently declared war with Hamas<\/a>.<\/p>\n After this, parents said they noticed how antisemitism had affected the lives of their children in a way they had not experienced during their own Australian childhoods.<\/p>\n Racism, bullying part of school life<\/p>\n One of the most serious cases heard by the commission involved a 13-year-old boy being bullied at his Darwin public school after he started wearing a Star of David necklace following a family trip to Israel.<\/p>\n His father, the son of a Holocaust survivor, told the commission the bullying started in the form of slurs and offensive gestures before escalating to physical abuse.<\/p>\n “The physical bullying included him being squeezed until he couldn’t breathe \u2026 being dragged across the floor to the point he received a carpet burn to his upper arm and being thrown into the garbage bin,” he told the commission.<\/p>\n Parents told the commission they noticed how antisemitism had affected the lives of their children. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)<\/p>\n The father, who remained anonymous for the hearing, said the teenager’s anxiety increased after the bullying and he refused to go to school.<\/p>\n He said the school “did nothing” to address the family’s concerns.<\/p>\n “I mentioned that my son was experiencing racism and physical bullying. It took 10 days for the vice principal to come back to me with the results of his investigation,” he said.<\/p>\n The family has now relocated to regional New South Wales and the teenager started at his new school earlier this year.<\/p>\n The father told the commission he discovered just this week that his son was experiencing antisemitic bullying again, and had been soon after he started school.<\/p>\n “Even though I checked in on him, he just couldn’t bring himself to bring it up because he just was hoping it would go away,” he said.’I don’t know how the genie goes back in’<\/p>\n The commission also heard from a former crisis support call centre volunteer whose nephew died during the Bondi terror attack.<\/p>\n She said she stopped volunteering after the Hamas attacks, due to an increasing number of callers making antisemitic comments.<\/p>\n She said she assessed the callers were not having genuine mental health crises and instead “wanted to offload”.<\/p>\n The anonymous witness said her family received much support after the Bondi shooting, and said there were some in the community who understood the impact of antisemitism on Jewish Australians.<\/p>\n Man wears swastika shirt outside antisemitism royal commission<\/a><\/p>\n A man wearing a T-shirt with a swastika was initially moved on by police outside the royal commission into antisemitism in Sydney, before later being arrested.<\/p>\n “I think it is a section of our society that is ruining it, and I don’t know how the genie goes back in,” she said.<\/p>\n The proceedings in Sydney have been heavily policed, with one man seen outside the building wearing a swastika shirt subsequently charged<\/a>.<\/p>\n One witness given the pseudonym Benjamin F said he had been anxious he would be confronted by similar “hecklers” while addressing the commission.<\/p>\n He gave evidence on another theme that emerged over the week: how members of the Jewish community felt they had been exiled from groups which claimed to be progressive and inclusive.<\/p>\n Exclusion form once-safe spaces<\/p>\n Benjamin F described his conversion from Roman Catholicism to Judaism as a “second coming out” and was subject to a “profound” level of hate.<\/p>\n “It was quite horrific actually,” he said.<\/p>\n “Those spaces I once considered safe, I once considered my community, I would not question going to a gay bar or club \u2026 that has changed significantly.”<\/p>\n Benjamin F spoke of feeling a “guttural” fear for his life as he prepared to march with Jewish LGBTQIA+ group Dayenu at Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade earlier this year.<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c8dfc4ef50f70230baee769101ad42d9.jpeg\")
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