In a Sydney hearing room, the testimony of people who have lived with hatred for their Jewishness, or for the accident of standing beside them, lays bare how prejudice is learned in school yards and passed along in jokes, cartoons and slogans until it becomes ordinary. Elsewhere in the same week, the nation's older question of what to do with citizens who went to war for a cause abroad, and with the children they brought home, returns in a courtroom where guilt, coercion and years-old choices are weighed against a child's need for his mother. Both stories ask the same quiet question of a count
Royal Commission hears harrowing anti-Semitism testimony; live blog also covers IS bail and rail funding
Witnesses report bullying, threats and fear for family safety; Jewish families describe considering leaving Australia after antisemitic incidents, and children linked to Islamic State returned from Syria.
"These were 12 year old kids."
Mark
Why lead with a schoolyard story from a commission about national social cohesion?
Mimi
Because Maya Hockey was 12 when it began. It shows the hatred arriving early, in the ordinary places where children learn who belongs.
Mark
Sharonne Blum talked about Holocaust inversion. What is she actually objecting to?
Mimi
Mapping the language and characters of the Holocaust onto a current conflict. She says it distorts the gravity of the Holocaust.
Luke
Worth noting that's her characterisation and her view of the cartoon and lecture. The paper apologised for the cartoon, but the testimony alone doesn't settle where criticism of Israel ends and anti-Semitism begins.
Mark
The lawyer who isn't Jewish seems different.
Mimi
She wasn't the target, yet she linked an unreported pub remark to Bondi and wondered whether a report could have flagged him for a gun licence.
Luke
That's her reflection, not evidence about that man. We don't know who he was or what he later did.
Mark
Two witnesses said they're leaving Australia. Is that a trend?
Luke
Not from this. Two witnesses is two witnesses, and they cited the experiences as part of the reason, not the whole.
Mimi
Still, hearing it in a commission is striking.
Mark
And the IS returnees?
Luke
The charges are allegations. The judge denied bail on the exceptional circumstances test, not on a finding of guilt.
O Pulso
- A Royal Commission hears students as young as twelve chanting Nazi salutes and a classroom swastika, exposing how deeply anti-Semitism has settled into everyday school life.
- Witnesses describe Holocaust inversion in newspapers and lectures, and families weighing whether they can stay in a country where they no longer feel safe.
- A woman accused of joining Islamic State is refused bail, with her lawyer arguing her alleged offences are years old and that she may have been pressured.
- The Prime Minister insists the government offered returnees no support, while four Melbourne men face charges over violent extremist material.
- A $3.8 billion boost to Victoria's Suburban Rail Loop lands on budget night, with the Royal Commission's recommendations still to come.
In a Sydney hearing room, the testimony of people who have lived with hatred for their Jewishness, or for the accident of standing beside them, lays bare how prejudice is learned in school yards and passed along in jokes, cartoons and slogans until it becomes ordinary. Elsewhere in the same week, the nation's older question of what to do with citizens who went to war for a cause abroad, and with the children they brought home, returns in a courtroom where guilt, coercion and years-old choices are weighed against a child's need for his mother. Both stories ask the same quiet question of a country: how it protects its people from one another, and from the consequences of their own decisions.
On day five of the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion, a Sydney graduate named Maya Hockey told the room what happened when her classmates learned she was Jewish. She had moved from New York at ten. In her first year of high school, students told her to heil Hitler and said she should be gassed. "These were 12 year old kids," she said. Her school had a swastika etched into a classroom, and a group chat called "swastikas" circulated photos of students doing Nazi salutes. She hid her identity for a while, ashamed, and only later found pride in the Jewish community. Her efforts to explain anti-Semitism to friends met mixed results, and some classmates dismissed it as a card Jews play for sympathy.
Jewish studies educator Sharonne Blum described how anti-Zionism has seeped into her classroom and her life. She listed chants such as "from the river to the sea" and "globalise the intifada" at Australian rallies since October 7, and the doxxing of Jewish creatives. She called out Holocaust inversion, the portrayal of Israel as Nazi and Gaza as Auschwitz. An Australian Financial Review cartoon, which the paper later apologised for, drew her particular anger, and she said her mother's relatives were murdered at Treblinka.
An anonymous Sydney lawyer who is not Jewish recounted a man in a pub calling her a "Jewish rat." She did not report it, unsure what police would make of it. After the Bondi Beach terror attack she wondered whether a report might have mattered later.
In a separate courtroom, Janai Safar, 32, was refused bail after arriving with women and children from a Syrian refugee camp. She faces charges of entering a prohibited area and membership of a terrorist organisation. Her lawyer argued that her involvement, any pressure on her, and the fact she left Raqqa in 2017 all matter. The judge found no exceptional circumstances, even though her nine-year-old son has never lived apart from her.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government gave the returnees no support and did not bring them home, feeling no sympathy for the adults but compassion for the children. Four men aged 19 to 29 were charged in Melbourne over violent extremist material. Mr Albanese also announced $3.8 billion more for Victoria's Suburban Rail Loop, with details expected on budget night.
On day five of the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion, a Sydney high school graduate named Maya Hockey described what happened when classmates learned she was Jewish. She had moved to Australia from New York at the age of 10. In her first year of high school, she said, students approached her to heil Hitler or to tell her she should be gassed. "These were 12 year old kids," she told the commission.
She said her school had a swastika etched into a classroom. Students in her brother's year ran a group chat titled "swastikas," where they sent photos of themselves heiling Hitler. The bullying left her ashamed and embarrassed, and she tried to hide that she was Jewish. Over time she connected with the Jewish community and grew proud of her identity. She tried to educate others, with mixed results. Some conversations were constructive and some friends wanted to learn more, but other students told her she was playing the "Jew card," or that anti-Semitism was a word invented so Jews could cast themselves as victims.
Jewish studies educator Sharonne Blum gave emotional testimony about how anti-Jewish hatred, particularly anti-Zionism, has affected her and her students. She listed Australian examples since October 7: slogans such as "from the river to the sea" and "globalise the intifada" at rallies, and the doxxing of Jewish creatives. She also described online tropes and what she called Holocaust inversion, which depicts Israel as Nazis and Gaza as Auschwitz.
Among her examples was an Australian Financial Review cartoon showing a figure resembling Benjamin Netanyahu riding a blimp bearing Donald Trump's face, with a Yiddish expression and the words "Torah, Torah, Torah." The paper later apologised, but Ms Blum called it "horrendous" that it was published at all. She also cited a university lecture that compared "no poetry after Auschwitz" with making art after "the genocide in Gaza," which she found deeply offensive and historically wrong. Holocaust inversion, she said, distorts the gravity of the Holocaust. She told the commission that relatives on her mother's side were murdered at Treblinka.
An anonymous witness, a Sydney lawyer in her early 30s who is not Jewish, described a pub encounter in which a man called her a "Jewish rat." She found the trope confronting and alienating. She did not report it to police, unsure what they would make of it given she is not Jewish. After the Bondi Beach terror attack she reconsidered, thinking a report might have given police intelligence on the man if he later applied for a gun licence.
An opinion piece in the same coverage noted that two witnesses called this week said they are leaving Australia, partly because of anti-Semitic experiences here.
Elsewhere, a woman accused of joining Islamic State will stay in custody. Janai Safar, 32, was arrested after arriving on Thursday night with a group of women and children returning from a Syrian refugee camp. Appearing by video link before the NSW Bail Division Court on Friday, she faced charges of entering a prohibited area and being a member of a terrorist organisation, each carrying up to 10 years. Her lawyer, Michael Ainsworth, said the issues would include how involved she was and whether she was pressured, and noted she left Raqqa in March 2017 and the alleged offending is years old. Judge Daniel Covington found no exceptional circumstances for bail, despite her nine-year-old son never having lived apart from her.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended the government's handling of the 13 women and children who returned, saying the government gave them no support and did not bring them back. He said he has zero sympathy for the adults but sympathy for children who are victims of their parents' decisions, and that the three women were arrested and would be charged.
Separately, four men aged 19 to 29 were charged in Melbourne with possessing violent extremist material after warrants in Roxburgh Park, Clyde South and Meadow Heights. A fifth man was released. Mr Albanese also announced an extra $3.8 billion for Victoria's Suburban Rail Loop, on top of $2.2 billion already committed, with detail due on budget night Tuesday.
Citações Notáveis
These were 12 year old kids.— Maya Hockey, Royal Commission witness
I have sympathy for the children, who are victims of decisions their parents have made.— Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
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