Jewish organisations, Muslim groups and other community organisations have strongly condemned the December 14 antisemitic shootings in Bondi, Sydney, which killed 15 people.
Some of these groups are making strong calls for unity, warning against governments exploiting the killings and a climate of fear, to enact new anti-protest laws and racist anti-migration laws.
Meanwhile, Zionist groups and figures are exploiting the tragedy to blame the Palestinian solidarity movement for the deaths. Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal explicitly linked the peaceful 300,000-strong anti-genocide march over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the killings in Bondi.
Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) executive officer Max Kaiser told Deepcut News that Segal’s recent comments are “highly irresponsible”, and that “this should immediately disqualify her from being taken at all seriously on the issue of antisemitism”.
Segal, since being appointed in July last year, has attacked peaceful anti-genocide protests as “antisemitic”, with no evidence. Meanwhile, she has remained conspicuously silent on rising neo-Nazi activity, such as the National Socialist Network’s police-approved stunt outside NSW parliament last month.
The wave of abuse, doxxing and death threats directed at anti-Zionist Jews, such as Judith Trainor and Michelle Berkon, following the Bondi shooting shows how little Zionists care about protecting all Jews.
Jewish journalist Dave Zirin, writing for the Nation, said that Zionists are “exploiting our dead” by “tying this tragedy to their own nationalist project for personal gain”.
“They are relentless in their message that standing for Palestinian existence in the face of annihilation makes you party to this atrocity, which is an obscene lie.”
Zirin argues that conflating Judaism with Zionism, the latter being an expansionist, supremacist ideology, is itself an act of antisemitism, as it implies Jewish identity is tied to support for the genocidal state of Israel.
Response
The NSW and federal governments have quickly responded to the Bondi attack with proposed gun reforms. However, NSW Premier Chris Minns also announced that the state government is considering measures to expand police powers to restrict protests when there is a “terrorism designation”.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) condemned Minns’ move to restrict democratic rights, pointing out that the measures would not reduce antisemitism or even prevent events like the Bondi killings.
“Connecting the horrific events of the Bondi attack in any way with recent protests continues the harmful trend of conflating criticism of the actions of the government of Israel with antisemitism,” NSWCCL president Timothy Roberts said. “This undermines the community harmony that the premier says that he is worried about.”
Roberts said that throughout his time in office, Minns “has consistently demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of how to cultivate community harmony, by regularly suggesting laws that erode our civil liberties”.
“In attempting to restrict protest this way, the premier is further dividing a community that is already trying to heal in an environment worryingly filled with misinformation and hateful rhetoric. We cannot have a ‘summer of calm’ and ‘togetherness’ with a government eroding our democratic freedoms.”
Minns also indicated an openness to allow members of the Jewish private security organisation Community Security Group (CSG) — which operates in NSW and Victoria — to carry weapons. Apart from the obvious problem that more weapons do not make communities safer, CSG has been described by a former member as “a recruiting ground for Israeli intelligence agencies”.
Jordana Silverstein, a Jewish historian and Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) executive member, condemned Minns’ response to the tragedy: “The Jewish community does not need more repressive crackdowns. This is not the best way to deal with antisemitism or racism.
“Instead, what we need are community-based responses that support people to come together and speak honestly and openly about violence here, in Palestine, and around the world.”
‘Antisemitism’ plan
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on December 18 the adoption of Segal’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism. The plan — based on the widely discredited International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism — seeks to silence criticism of Israel and has been described by JCA as “authoritarian”.
If the plan’s recommendations are implemented in full, it would grant Segal sweeping powers to censor media outlets, schools, universities, cultural institutions and the public sector.
APAN condemned the Albanese government’s adoption of the plan as a “profound threat to Australian democracy, civil liberties and the right to peaceful protest”.
JCA executive officer Sarah Schwartz, responding to the federal government’s announcements, said “our grief should not be used as a political weapon, nor as an excuse to pursue agendas that divide communities”.
Schwartz urged Albanese to “reject voices which seek to use this response to divide us and pursue anti-immigration or pro-Israel agendas, and instead focus on what is needed to keep us, and all racialised communities, safe from violent acts of racism”.
Jewish organisations, such as JCA, have warned against the weaponisation of antisemitism to push for anti-democratic measures that focus more on silencing criticism of Israel’s genocide than keeping Jewish communities safe. A coalition of nine Jewish organisations signed a joint statement last month rejecting Segal’s plan and calling for the implementation of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework — “a potential holistic, evidence-based approach to combating all forms of racism, including antisemitism”.
It is difficult to get a clear picture of the rise in antisemitism in recent years, as reporting organisations like the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and CSG use the IHRA definition of antisemitism. This means criticisms of Israel and Zionism, including weekly Palestine solidarity protests, have been recorded as “antisemitic” incidents, alongside actual instances of antisemitism.
The mainstream media coverage of the Bondi killings, including platforming far-right senator Pauline Hanson, has whipped up a frenzy of Islamophobia and anti-migrant racism.
The Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) reported an increase in Islamophobic harassment directed at its organisation following the Bondi killings. ICV president Mohamed Mohideen received more than 30 abusive and threatening calls and messages in a 24-hour period. Mohideen condemned the killings and said it is “deeply concerning” that the tragedy is “being used by some to target innocent Muslim community members with hate and abuse”.
“Strengthening safety for one community must never come at the expense of another,” he said.
The Islamophobia Register Australia recorded a rise in reported Islamophobic incidents following the Bondi killings, including the desecration of a Muslim cemetery. The register has recorded a 530% rise in Islamophobic incidents since October 7, 2023.