NSW Jewish group ‘overwhelmed' by anti-Semitic incidents as landmark inquiry begins
A controversial right-wing Jewish group has been grilled over whether it has furthered anti-Semitic tropes and supported 'extreme' posts that 'openly advocate for the ethnic cleansing of Arabs' in the West Bank as a landmark anti-Semitism inquiry begins.
Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers MP Robert Borsak is chairing the first hearing in state parliament on Monday of the NSW Legislative Council's inquiry into anti-Semitism in NSW, alongside Greens MLC Amanda Cohn and MLCs from Labor and the Liberals.
The inquiry seeks to examine the underlying causes behind the 'increasing prevalence and severity' of anti-Semitism in NSW, as well as the 'threat to social cohesion' it presents and how the safety of the state's Jewish community 'might be enhanced'.
Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory and community engagement director Teneille Murray told the inquiry that 'Jewish institutions (now) resemble fortresses' and claimed taxpayer funds were going to organisations espousing anti-Semitism.
But, it was a claim in the organisation's submission to the inquiry about 'Jewish anti-Semitism' and 'a tiny, fringe group claiming Jewish heritage (which) parrots anti-Jewish rhetoric, rejected by the broader Jewish community' that stirred debate.
Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence asked Mr Gregory whether 'your organisation might be falling into the trap of actually furthering anti-Semitism by presenting a monolithic view of Jewish people' and referenced social media posts connected to the organisation.
In one, by former president David Adler, comments were made about former SBS presenter Stan Grant's complexion 'which seems to have changed' and another, which Mr Lawrence said 'openly advocates for the ethnic cleansing of Arabs in the West Bank'.
In response, Mr Gregory said he thought it was 'quite strange at a committee here on anti-Semitism that the Jewish groups and Jewish people are being attacked by the committee members' – though, Mr Lawrence refuted that it was an 'attack'.
Asked again later if the AJA supported the statement about 'Arabs', Mr Gregory said 'if, as our friend who did, you wanted to scroll through and try and find a post, an offensive post, out of 10s of 1000s of posts, maybe they would be able to'.
He also stated that the AJA 'does not have a policy on these types of issues'.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip told the inquiry that 'the past 20 months had seen an unprecedented and shocking rise in anti-Semitism' following the October 7 attack in Israel and the subsequent protests over the invasion of Gaza.
'For the first time, the Jewish community of Australia and NSW has felt unsafe and at risk, not because of anything it has done, but because of who we are,' he said.
'There have been moments where we have been completely overwhelmed as an organisation by the sheer volume and seriousness of anti-Semitic incidents which have been reported to us … No sphere of life has been immune to the virus of anti-Semitism.'
The inquiry was told of incidents reported to the organisation in which students were targeted because of their Jewish identity, including one in which a student was asked 'Are you Jewish? F**king Jews. You should kill yourself'.
'This all previously would have been unthinkable,' Mr Ossip told the inquiry.
In its submission, the board said there was a 339 per cent increase in incidents.
It comes after a spate of high-profile anti-Semitic incidents across Greater Sydney this past summer that led to the passing of controversial new anti-hate laws that outlawed protests outside places of worship among other strict measures.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Michele Goldman told the inquiry that the board welcomed the new anti-hate speech laws, and it was 'something we've been advocating for some time' and a 'first step' but called for more action to be taken.
'What we really need to see now is consistent application of the law to ensure that those people who are guilty of vilification, of harassment, of intimidation face the law and that there is effective deterrence to others,' Ms Goldman told the inquiry.
'A clear message is that this is not OK in our society. This is not for Australia.'
Opponents of the laws, including civil society groups and Jewish groups and individuals who made submissions to the inquiry, claim the laws limit free speech and were a 'kneejerk' reaction and warned about conflations between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism.
Asked about those concerns, Mr Ossip said 'getting into this discussion is a bit of a red herring' and the overwhelming majority of incidents reported to the organisation were 'textbook anti-Semitism … (which) have nothing to do with Israel or Zionism'.
'I think where the line is crossed is where hatred of Israel spills over into suspicion of Jews more broadly or a view that Jews are pernicious, dangerous, or particularly egregious in their actions,' Mr Ossip told the inquiry.
'I think it's when protesters will deny the rights of Jews for self-determination and saying that Israel's very existence is illegitimate or inherently racist.'
Mr Ossip told the inquiry that Holocaust education 'isn't sufficient to combat anti-Semitism'.
He singled out 'tropes' that were often 'subtle and pernicious'.
On far-right extremism, Mr Ossip went on to add that 'they're obviously an immense concern to us, but we've been making mistakes just to describe it as anti-Semitism'.
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