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<\/a>\n\t\tWitness Josh Gomperts, who testified at the first hearing block of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion\u00a0in Sydney. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n
The hearings have become a rare public forum for Australian Jews to describe how antisemitism has reshaped life in the aftermath of the bloody October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel and the subsequent war against the terror group in Gaza.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Two weeks of public hearings are now underway, with Jewish Australians and other witnesses giving evidence before the commission. Further blocks of hearings are expected later this year, and the commission is due to hand down its final report by December 11, just before the first anniversary of the attack.<\/p>\n Gomperts, who testified online from his Melbourne home, told The Times of Israel, \u201cI came forward with my story because I don\u2019t want to sit idly by if change is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, he remains uncertain whether the commission\u2019s recommendations will be enough to stem the surge of antisemitism that Australian Jews have been experiencing.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d love to see a more unified Australia where we all live in peace and don\u2019t feel like we are harassed. But I\u2019m also not sure I see a future for Jews in this country at the moment,\u201d Gomperts said.<\/p>\n Sheina Gutnick<\/a>, whose father Reuven Morrison was murdered at the Bondi Hanukkah gathering, was the first witness to testify before the royal commission.<\/p>\n After the prime minister initially rejected calls to establish a royal commission, Gutnick helped lead a weeks-long public pressure campaign urging the government to reconsider.<\/p>\n \t In her testimony, Gutnick described being verbally abused in a shopping center while holding her baby and wearing her Star of David necklace, when a stranger pointed to the star and called her a \u201cfucking terrorist.\u201d<\/p>\n Gutnick, who has become one of the most high-profile Australians speaking out about antisemitism since Bondi, hopes her testimony will serve as a wake-up call.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is an opportune and prime moment to have our voices heard by the Australian community and to hear what it\u2019s been like for Australian Jews for the last two and a half years and for that to be a catalyst to inspire change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Jew-hatred follows Hamas Oct. 7 onslaught<\/p>\n The inquiry heard from witnesses about the impact on the Jewish community of antisemitic chants during a protest against the war in Gaza outside Sydney\u2019s Opera House in October 2023, shortly after the Hamas massacre in Israel.<\/p>\n Jewish community groups recorded 2,062 antisemitic incidents in 2024 alone. However, the 2025 Bondi Beach shooting brought the issue of Jew hatred firmly into public consciousness.<\/p>\n Sajid Akram and son Naveed are accused of opening fire as Jewish families thronged Bondi Beach for a Hanukkah celebration in December, carrying out Australia\u2019s deadliest mass shooting for 30 years.<\/p>\n The royal commission is not expected to hear detailed evidence from many Bondi survivors or relatives of those killed who were present on the night of the attack, due to the pending criminal proceedings against Naveed Akram, one of the two Bondi shooters.<\/p>\n The commission has been careful not to interfere with the upcoming terrorism and murder trial, meaning much of the evidence surrounding the attack itself will likely be dealt with through the criminal justice process expected later this year.<\/p>\n \n\t The report also raised serious concerns about failures in intelligence sharing and counterterror coordination in the lead-up to the Bondi attack, while acknowledging that Australian authorities could not have prevented the massacre.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sharp spike of antisemitism that we have witnessed in Australia has been mirrored in other Western countries and seems clearly linked to events in the Middle East,\u201d inquiry chief Bell said in opening remarks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians simply because they are Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Thousands volunteer to testify on antisemitic events<\/p>\n Those appearing before the commission first submitted written accounts of their experiences and were later contacted to provide further testimony if they indicated they were open to doing so. To date, more than 5,000 submissions have been received, detailing lived experiences of antisemitism, including more than 1,000 from non-Jewish Australians.<\/p>\n Witnesses called to the royal commission may testify under their full names, first names only, or anonymously using pseudonyms.<\/p>\n The evidence heard so far has often been harrowing.<\/p>\n A Jewish school president described how the security measures now required at her school have made it feel more like a prison than a place of learning. A Jewish businessman spoke about being racially abused for wearing a kippa. Another witness recalled sitting at the Australian Open tennis tournament beside a stranger who lamented that more Jews had not been killed at Bondi.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tSheina Gutnick, whose father was killed in an antisemitic terror shooting at Bondi Beach, speaks to the media after the first hearing block of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion\u00a0in Sydney on May 4, 2026. (GEORGE CHAN \/ AFP)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tThe victims of the Sydney Hanukkah terror shooting: top row (left to right) \u2013 Reuven Morrison, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Dan Elkayam, Alex Kleytman, Rabbi Eli Schlanger; middle row (left to right) \u2013 Edith Brutman, Peter Meagher, Tibor Weitzen, Marika Pogany, Matilda [last name withheld]; bottom row (left to right) \u2013 Tania Tretiak, Boris Tetleroyd, Adam Smyth, Sofia and Boris Gurman. (Composite: Times of Israel; Images: Courtesy\/social media, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
\n\tOverseen by retired Australian High Court judge Virginia Bell, the commission handed down an interim report last week outlining 14 recommendations, including stronger security protections at high-risk Jewish events and a nationally consistent firearms agreement, alongside a proposed gun buyback scheme. Five recommendations were withheld from the public report on national security grounds.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tSajid Akram, foreground, and Naveed Akram open fire on people at a Jewish event in Sydney, Australia, on December 14, 2025, in an image taken from a video posted online. (Screen capture: X)<\/p>\n