Two gunmen killed at least fifteen people at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday in an attack targeting the country’s Jewish community as it began the Hanukkah celebration. At least forty others were injured. The armed men were father and son; the youngest is in custody and in critical condition, and the oldest was killed. The gathering at Bondi Beach was organized by Chabad, a branch of Orthodox Judaism that organizes cultural and religious events around the world. Australia, like a number of countries, has seen an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in recent years, particularly since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
I spoke by phone Sunday with Michael Visontay, the editor in chief of Independent Jewbased in Australia, and author of the book “Noble Fragments”. Our conversation about the attack, the history of Australian Jewry and the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia is below.
I read this morning that Australia has a higher proportion of Holocaust survivors than any other country except Israel. What can you tell us about the Jewish community in Australia?
This is absolutely true, and it is at the heart of the identity and ethos of the Australian Jewish community, because it means that over the generations the sensitivity and sensitivity within the community to the threats of anti-Semitism, to prejudice and to the echoes of the Holocaust of the Second World War, are far more pronounced here than they are virtually anywhere else. In America, there is a much more diverse range of Jews and affiliations: there is a large contingent of Reform Jews and Jews of all sorts of different backgrounds. Whereas in Australia, we are largely Holocaust survivors, including my own family, and that has shaped our cultural and religious branches very, very strongly.
Melbourne has the largest community, larger than Sydney. Melbourne’s Jewish community is largely Polish, and more insular and inward-looking than Sydney’s population, which has many more Hungarian Jews, which matches my own background. The Hungarian Jewish community was – I don’t know if “integrated” is the right word, but slightly more secular or outward-looking. There are parts of Melbourne where you might think you’re in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There are many ultra-Orthodox Jews in Melbourne.
You have said that many Australian Jews come from families who survived the Holocaust and that this had a profound effect on the Jewish community in this country. Can you talk more about it?
Well, there aren’t necessarily any pronounced religious components, and I’m not sure you could call the community conservative, but it’s certainly much more responsive to changes in society. Community leadership groups are very outspoken and pushing for more legal and regulatory responses to racial vilification and religious vilification. And there has been a history of incidents of even low-level anti-Semitism that have drawn very strong reactions from the Jewish community. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There is a very strong underlying philosophy that we must always be very, very vigilant about anti-Semitism. Personally, I felt, growing up in Australia, that maybe it was exaggerated and a bit of a cry wolf. But after October 7, I felt I was wrong and I proved myself wrong.
I read that anti-Semitic incidents in Australia had already started to increase in the years leading up to October 7th, but became even worse after October 7th. Is this correct?
Yeah. So after October 7, there was a real eruption of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiment and behavior. This was both low and individual, but also expressed at societal levels, with marches by pro-Palestinian groups in Jewish suburbs and an indifference to Jewish solidarity with what had happened to Israel. There were a few particular incidents that I think really made a difference to people here. The first took place on October 9, after the New South Wales government lit up the Sydney Opera House in the colors of the Israeli flag, as a sign of solidarity: a pro-Palestinian march took place, which eventually headed towards the opera house. Some of them appeared to shout “Gas the Jews”, which was later investigated by police to confirm whether they had actually said it. According to expert analysis, some people actually asked, “Where are the Jews?” ”, which, in a sense, was even worse. I have never heard this expression. Either way, it sent a message of hostility and made people feel like a target.
And there were other incidents too. There was indeed a great outpouring of hostility, which was very strongly felt by the community. And then there have been all kinds of incidents that have become more publicized, particularly in the last six to 12 months, with firebombing of synagogues, attacks on Jewish property, and so on. And some of them have been shown to be sponsored by Iran. [The Australian government claimed that Iran was behind attacks, last year, on a kosher deli and on a synagogue. Iran denied the accusation, and Australia expelled the Iranian Ambassador.] All these incidents have sown a climate of fear and anxiety.
I have read some of your earlier work and know that you are someone who believes that your own criticism of Israel is not inherently anti-Semitic, although sometimes criticism of Israel takes an anti-Semitic form. And I know that the Israeli government has said that the Australian government’s recognition of a Palestinian state was partly to blame for these incidents. What do you think of criticism of the Israeli government?
Benjamin Netanyahu’s attacks were just sort of a predictable outburst, trying, I suppose, to denigrate the Australian government for recognizing Palestinian statehood. And my personal view is that the Australian government did this following reports of famine in Gaza earlier this year, and a number of other countries were doing the same at the time. I think the recognition was probably premature and not necessarily helpful, but I think that’s why it happened when it did. This prompted Netanyahu to lash out at the Australian government and accuse it of fostering anti-Semitism – a connection that was tenuous at best.
In terms of criticizing the Israeli government, there is still room for that, and it should be done where appropriate, but it has become very difficult for people, and certainly for the Jewish people, to receive and digest legitimate criticism on their merits, because there has been so much toxic bile directed at Jews and Israelis. It has become almost impossible to separate arguments of legitimate criticism from toxic messages. And many Jews have not seen the criticism as legitimate because they have this view: “Well, they hate us, and this criticism is indistinguishable from hatred. “He’s really one of the biggest victims of what happened. The Israeli government must be criticized for its bad behavior and bad policies and for the things it says and does, but this criticism must be expressed in very specific terms. And yet, even when it happens, many people simply cannot accept it. And that’s very unfortunate, because we need to be able to express what we think fairly and accurately, not in a malicious way.
