Radical groups have shared hatred of Jewish people, royal commission hears

Australia’s Jewish community is facing an unprecedented security threat as otherwise divergent extremist groups converge on a shared hatred of Jews, the antisemitism royal commission has heard.

The inquiry has been questioning police, religious leaders and security agencies as it turns its focus to the issue of security in a post-October 7, 2023 environment.

A week of evidence on the topic has heard broad consensus that vilification of Australia’s Jewish communities rose to new levels as the Israeli military bombarded Gaza following the Hamas terror attack.

Today the Dor Foundation’s Tahli Blicblau told the commission of four radical ideologies — Islamic extremism, the extreme far-right, fringe elements of the far-left and conspiracy movements — that had “little in common other than their willingness to resort to violence to further their cause and their shared hatred for Jews”.

“In addition to that convergence of radical ideologies, there is also a convergence of threat actors — including domestic and foreign terrorist organisations … working with those groups,” she said.

“This convergence is creating a security environment for not only the broader Australian public but the Jewish community that is unprecedented and therefore demands an unprecedented level of sophistication and integration in its response.”

The Dor Foundation was launched to research and combat antisemitism in Australia last year.

As its inaugural CEO, Ms Blicblau has appeared before the commission twice already.

Calls for stronger links between Jewish groups and police

While her previous evidence has focused on the large volume of derogatory social media content directed at witnesses, today’s material also drew from her earlier work in intelligence-related roles and Jewish community groups.

She told the commission that the current threat environment demanded a sophisticated security response, that funding needs had increased dramatically over the past three years and that it should not be left to Jewish philanthropy to cover the bill.

Pointing to the Jewish community’s response to the Bondi terror attack, she called for greater integration between New South Wales law enforcement and Jewish groups.

“If you accept the level of threat is severe … then it follows that the level of integration and engagement between the Jewish community and the law enforcement and intelligence agencies needs to be sufficiently mature to meet the scale of the threat,” she said.

“There is a need to formalise and embed those relationships institutionally and organisationally,” she said.

A senior bureaucrat in the Department of Home Affairs said the department had provided more than $209 million in protective security grants over a six-year window.

But assistant secretary Amy Dyde conceded the grants process could stand to be streamlined, and confirmed earlier evidence that one application from a Melbourne synagogue later devastated in a firebombing was knocked back because it was an unincorporated entity.

“It’s quite a standard grant term that they need to have legal character in order to be able to enter into a contract with the Commonwealth,” she said.

Victoria Police front royal commission

Evidence from police and government figures this week has respectively focused on antisemitic data reporting and funding available for security upgrades.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Martin O’Brien on Friday detailed how officers record and share information about prejudicial incidents.

He agreed that the Israeli government’s conduct had been a basis for hatred directed at the local Jewish community.

More sensitive security details have been heard in closed sessions.

A small group of anti-Israel protesters gathered outside Friday’s hearing, urging the royal commission to overturn its adoption of the controversial definition of antisemitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

“It conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and it is being used against Jews,” Jewish protester Rebecca Parker told a small crowd.

“My grandfather survived Dachau. 80 years later, I’m shoved in the street by fellow Jews.”

Federal Liberal MP Julian Leeser is expected to front the commission this afternoon.