A week ago, I went for an early morning swim on Bondi Beach in Sydney. The day before I attended services at the local Chabad.
It was that same Chabad that organised today’s Chanukah event at the beach where 11 people were just murdered by terrorists.
The Jewish world is small but these connections make it feel smaller.
I was in Sydney as part of a delegation of Jewish communal leaders from the seven largest Diaspora Jewish communities, visiting Australia with the Anti-Defamation League to learn about their experiences in tackling antisemitism. For the last week I have been praising Australia and its Jewish community to everyone I meet.
Australia has seen an upswing in antisemitism that began even before the Hamas massacre in Israel on 7th October 2023, but was turbo charged by that event.
The Australian Jewish community has confronted several fire-bomb attacks in the last two years including one on the former house of my counterpart, the Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. There was also a highly destructive attack on the Adas Israel Synagogue in Melbourne which I visited ten days ago to meet with the community.
Australian Jews have had to deal with a tsunami of hate on social media, from anti-Israel demonstrations, graffiti, hurled abuse and violent assault. The number of antisemitic events in 2025 is over 1600 (before today’s attack) only slightly lower than the previous peak year.
Australian Jewish leaders expressed their anger at what was going on. Despite Jews arriving to Australia on the first convict boats in 1788, it is well known that at the Evian Conference discussing Jewish refugees in 1938, the Australian delegate said “as we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one by encouraging any scheme of large-scale foreign migration”. But post-war Jews were warmly welcomed into the country and integrated to an extraordinary degree. The overwhelming message conveyed by the community was that this antisemitism is distinctly un-Australian.
As with us in the UK, the Jewish community of Australia is proud and resilient. At community events, schools, synagogues, and museums we encountered the fantastic CSG, modelled on our CST, and a communal leadership dedicated to ensuring that this community will continue to thrive. In honour of Australia’s legacy, all events begin with a statement honouring the elders past and present of aboriginal lands.
Like us in the UK, Australian Jews are looking to their government to back up support with a concrete plan to tackle the crisis of antisemitism. For the victims and families today, it is too late, but the urgency for governments world-wide to deal with this deadly sickness is now apparent to all.
As we know, Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze Ba-Zeh. Every Jewish person is responsible for every other. We stand with Australian Jewish community today.
Michael Wegier is Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews
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