We published this article “Seeking to contextualise antisemitic incidents in Australia. What do the data tellus?” by Graeme Walker. There is some really useful points in the article for Jewish Australians. There should be more attention given to the facts behind the data as revealed in this analysis. The key points are:
1. The data presented by advocacy groups show that Jewish Australians are more often victims of racist hate incidents than other racial/ethnic groups, except possibly for First Nations people in the Northern Territory.
2. Gradual increases over time in hate incident reports may reflect a real rise in incidents, or an increasing propensity among the target population to report incidents, for any number of reasons.
3. Data on hate incidents published by different advocacy organisations are difficult to interpret and compare because of disagreements on attribution (e.g. differing definitions of antisemitism or Islamophobia). Thus, descriptions of all hate incidents, not just summaries or selected examples, need to be made publicly available, since accuracy of incident trends is critical for assessing the effectiveness or not of an;-hate laws in Australia.
4. There is universal agreement that spikes in antisemitic incidents in Australia correlate with conflicts in Palestine and media polemics around them. Spikes disappear when the trigger event stops. There is little or no published analysis of data to suggest that increasing police powers in Australia will prevent such spikes.
5. Some argue that the antisemitic incident spike following 7 October 2023 is in reality caused by latent antisemitism in Australia that is activated by the trigger event in Palestine. There is possibly some logic in this, but Australia is one of the least antisemitic countries globally as measured in population surveys.
May 4, 2026
The Interim Royal Commission report on antisemitism in Australia ignores the “elephant in the room”: Israel’s actions in Gaza and Iran. Israel is committing a live-streamed genocide in Gaza, instigating war against Iran (with US support), and damaging the global economy – including Australia’s – through rising inflation, interest rates, and unemployment.
Many Australians including some Jewish Australians are expressing their outrage by peaceful demonstrations and rallies in support of Palestinians. There has also been some non-violent, but unlawful direct action.
The Bondi massacre is something which is completely outside and unconnected with these protests. Peak Jewish Australian bodies support the Israeli government and claim to represent most Jewish Australians, creating a false perception that all Jewish Australians back Israeli policies. Complaints of antisemitism are used to suppress protest against Israel. Australian governments appease the U.S. unreservedly pro-Israel stance, by appointing a pro-Israel antisemitism envoy, and passing anti-democratic laws to curb and even criminalise pro-Palestinian protest.
If the royal commission is to achieve its goal of restoring social cohesion, it should call on the Australian government to condemn Israeli war crimes, impose boycott/divestment/sanctions, rescind the envoy’s appointment, repeal restrictive laws, and join international legal and political action opposing Israel’s crimes.
— John Curr from MANLY QLD.
After nearly 50 years of going to Al Nakba commemorations (my first was after Shabra and Shatilla) of massacres, it has finally entered the mainstream what a long wait for people to wake up in a racist settler country. Thank you David Shoebridge from the Greens for speaking the truth.
Click to access SI0001_MappingSocialCohesion_2025_v5.pdf
See p16 Fig 6a and 6b of this Scanlon report for Australians negative and positive attitudes to peoples from different countries and different faiths
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