A series of public hearings delving into anti-Semitism in Australia will begin six months after the targeted killing of Jewish people in the Bondi terror attack.
Members of the Jewish community will share their experiences with the Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion across two weeks beginning Monday.
They are expected to include high-profile advocates such as Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin, whose former Sydney home was targeted in an attack in early 2025.
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Others will detail their everyday experiences as Jews, including being targeted at schools, university campuses and in their businesses.
But La Trobe University academic and son of Jewish refugees Dennis Altman said he was moved to make a submission to the inquiry after seeing how narrow some of the representations of the Jewish community were.
“Organised Jewish community institutions are very unwilling to acknowledge the range of views among Australian Jews,” he told AAP.
The deep political and historical background to anti-Semitism and violence taking place in the Middle East did not make a rational and sensible discussion impossible, Mr Altman said.
“People keep saying it’s hard to talk about. I don’t think it is,” he said.
“I recognise that on both sides of the debate there are extreme positions that don’t want to have that discussion, but if we’re serious about social cohesion, which is part of the royal commissioner’s brief, you don’t get social cohesion by shutting down debate and discussion.”
Mr Altman said it was also important to separate anti-Semitism from legitimate criticism of Israel.
“I’m very aware of the way in which a lot of people feel that sensible debate on Palestine is being shut down and I think that’s very serious,” he said.
The commission is headed by former High Court judge Virginia Bell, who on Thursday released an interim report, focused on the intelligence and security response to the December Bondi attack, which made 14 recommendations for change.
Fifteen people were killed when two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah festival at Australia’s most famous beach, prompting the Albanese government to belatedly launch the wide-ranging inquiry.
While it found no areas “requiring urgent or immediate action”, the report’s recommendations included nationally cohesive gun-law reform and tighter security at Jewish events.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government would adopt all of the recommendations, adding Jewish Australians were grieving and seeking answers about what occurred.
The commission’s initial hearing block will run until May 15.
The commission will hand down a final report before the end of the year.
