Serious incidents of anti-Semitism across Australia have skyrocketed by 738% since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. That’s according to the country’s peak Jewish body, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).
It found that in October and November last year, 79 recorded hate incidents targeted Jewish people. For those months this year, there were 662 incidents. Jewish leaders say that’s probably just ‘the tip of the iceberg’ and the actual figure is far higher because many Jews are embarrassed and ashamed to report such incidents.
They add their 100,000-strong Australian community has been flooded with threats of deaths, bombings and boycotts as well as hateful abuse through graffiti vandalism and online stalking and harassment. The ECAJ reports widespread anxiety and fears for physical safety, especially for children in school uniform. Its co-executive officer Alex Ryvchin told The Australian: “I think it has always been there and it just needed a trigger to really come to the surface in a massive way. So, it’s deeply troubling about what’s going to happen in the future as well.”
The newspaper reports that in one instance a prominent Jewish figure in Sydney received a letter saying: “I will find you. Hunt you down. Gas you. Kill you. Teach you a lesson. I will come after you. I know where you live.” In another recent incident, a bomb threat to blow up a synagogue stated: “There are multiple bombs in the Jewish Centre and they will explode in a few hours. You will all die.”
Stickers saying Boycott with a large Star of David have been placed on Jewish-owned shops including Glicks Bakery, a kosher restaurant called Tavlin and other shops in the Jewish suburb of Balaclava in Melbourne.
“In addition to incidents, there were many other expressions of animosity towards Israel and Jews that are not necessarily categorised as incidents, but were just as damaging to, and undermining of, the sense of security of members of the Jewish community and their sense of belonging as part of the broader Australian community,” the ECAJ report said. These included “thousands of posters of the names and photos of those kidnapped by Hamas which had been put up around multiple suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne and elsewhere, that were ripped down and/or graffitied”.
