Australia’s Jewish leaders warned of rising anti-Semitism before the attack

In the days and weeks following the October 7 massacre in Israel, there was a feeling across much of the Jewish world – including the vibrant, close-knit community here in Australia. It was a deep, painful numbness. It was as if all the color had been drained from life, all the joy had been sucked away, leaving us as hollow, empty shells.

It was deeply lonely and isolating, a sadness that sat heavy in the chest and refused to move. The healing, when it came, was slow and fragile.

And now, after what happened in Sydney on Sunday, it’s happening all over again.

Two jihadist terrorists – a father and a son – opened fire on Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, one of Australia’s most iconic and beloved landmarks. A place synonymous with sun, surf and the joys of the carefree Australian lifestyle became the scene of a massacre.

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Fifteen people were murdered. Many more were injured. The victims ranged from a 10-year-old child to an 87-year-old elder — including a Holocaust survivor, a beloved community rabbi, a little girl with an infectious smile and a Russian immigrant who had “discovered his Jewish identity in Sydney.”

And our existential hollowness has returned. The same question hangs in the air: will we ever feel joy again?

The cries of anguish were not far away or imagined; they echoed across the blood-stained sand and grass of Bondi Beach, near Sydney’s Jewish heart.

Decades earlier, Australia had felt differently.

Protected. Removed from the baggage of the old world. A continent protected from the hatred of the world by vast oceans. Australian Jews grew up believing – perhaps naively – that while anti-Semitism existed elsewhere, it would never fully take root here.

Over the past two years, that illusion has been dispelled with every protest demonizing “Zionists”/Jews, and with every attack on Jewish institutions and individuals.

The safety vest of an anti-Israel protester during a march against the Jewish state at the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia. August 2025. (Ayush Kumar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

There have been arson attacks on synagogues and restaurants, attacks, doxxing of Jewish creatives, boycotts of businesses and artists, graffiti and validation, public abuse of Jews of all ages, including schoolchildren, the takeover of college campuses by extremists determined to make Jews unwelcome and voicing vicious anti-Jewish chants during demonstrations in all major cities. The number of reported anti-Semitic incidents has risen to almost five times the number before October. 7 average.

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Jewish community bodies continued to warn that things were getting worse – that if nothing was done, it would only be a matter of time before people started being killed.

Yet much of Australia’s cultural elite continued to insist that this was all a moral panic, a hoax or a diversionary tactic. Many said the real danger was not anti-Semitism, but that cracking down on anti-Semitism would lead to the “suppression” of pro-Palestinian speech.

The worst offenders made the anti-Semitic claim that Jews were “weaponizing” anti-Semitism to silence debate over policy toward Israel. Perhaps this deception and gaslighting, especially from the left, influenced our left-wing state and federal governments.

Synagogue members collect items from the Adass Israel Synagogue on December 6, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. An arson attack at Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue forced congregants to flee as flames engulfed the building early Friday morning. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the incident as an anti-Semitic act and stressed that such violence at a place of worship is unacceptable in Australia. (Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

In any case, although some initiatives to combat anti-Semitism were announced and the statement ‘There is no place for anti-Semitism in Australia’ was repeated numerous times, this never seemed to be a priority for our political leaders. They appointed an anti-Semitism envoy to study the problem, but in the five months since she made a series of recommendations they have failed to even respond to them, let alone implement them.

But there is nothing more terrible for our community than to be proven right in this terrible way.

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What makes this pain uniquely Australian is not just the violence itself, but the betrayal of expectations. This was supposed to be the safe place. The place where the darkest chapters of history were something we remembered, not something we relived.

The vulnerability and anger that Australian Jews have felt for so long is now also being felt by non-Jewish Australians who love their country and do not want it to be dragged into the same ugly quagmire that many countries around the world now face.

A fence shows “Free Palestine” graffiti praising Hamas’ massacre of Israelis on October 7. (Executive Council of Australian Jewry)

As has often been said, the Jews are the “canaries in the coal mine,” and what begins with the Jews never ends with the Jews. Unfortunately, the attack in Bondi is not the end, but it could be the beginning of an even more dangerous period ahead.

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Perhaps the fight against anti-Semitism – and the other hate and conspiracy theories that inevitably accompany it – can finally begin when the Australian government truly understands that reality.