Victims of antisemitism have been targeted with death threats and depicted as animals in AI-generated images after giving evidence to the royal commission examining the Bondi terror attack.
The messages have been unearthed as part of an analysis of more than 1,000 offensive social media posts and comments since the inquiry began earlier this month.
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has heard from dozens of witnesses from across Australia who were subject to abuse because they were Jewish.
Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell on Tuesday said a number had reported a “dramatic increase in online hate messages” after they gave evidence.
Established by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg to combat antisemitism, The Dor Foundation assessed more than 1,000 posts and comments containing antisemitic or abusive material directed towards the royal commission and witnesses who appeared in the first hearing block.
The royal commission is looking at the rise of antisemitism in Australia and the events leading up to the Bondi terror attack. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)
People who appeared using pseudonyms, including a Jewish child, were among those targeted in the hate messages.
In response to a post about evidence the child gave about her peers performing the Nazi salute at school, one person commented that it was “terrible, that only a couple of students were throwing” the offensive gesture.
“We need to pick up those numbers,” the post stated.
According to The Dor Foundation report, comments included calls for witnesses to be “executed”, with one post suggesting oil refineries be repurposed as makeshift concentration camps.
A victim of the Bondi shooting was labelled “subhuman”, a victim’s family member was called a “lying cow”, and some female commission witnesses were described as ugly or demonic-looking.
Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal, Mount Sinai College board president Stefanie Schwartz, Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) co-chief executive Alex Rychvin, and Australian musician Deborah Conway were among those targeted in the messages.
A significant number of the messages called for Jewish Australians to leave Australia.
The messages also included AI-generated images which depicted witnesses as animals.
Ms Blicblau says The Dor Foundation is working with social media platforms to remove offensive content. (ABC News: Adam Griffiths)
‘It dehumanises people’
The report found the targeting of witnesses indicated a “sustained effort to punish participation in the royal commission”.
“The cumulative effect of this material — across severity levels, platforms, and witnesses — is a chilling message to any member of the Jewish community considering giving evidence that public participation carries a personal cost, and may result in severe and prolonged online targeting,” the report stated.
The Dor Foundation chief executive Tahli Blicblau said the targeted witnesses “have been subject to exactly the same hatred they turned up to speak about” at the royal commission.
“The abuse is egregious, it is harsh, it calls for violence, it dehumanises people, and it takes the debate far beyond what we would expect to see in terms of acceptable public discourse and debate,”
she said.
Ms Blicblau said the foundation continued to work with social media platforms to have the offensive content removed.
“But there is a lot that’s still available, unfortunately,” she said.
“Some platforms and some comments are removed expeditiously, but there is a long way to go to make these online spaces much safer than what they are.
“People are starting to understand that hateful words lead to hateful actions and that’s being taken more seriously, but the online space is an epicentre, it’s an amplifier, it’s a free-for-all and its unsafe.”
Royal Commissioner Bell says the inquiry is “keeping a close eye” on online abuse. (Supplied: Murray Harris Photography)
‘Undiluted level of hatred and bigotry’
Commissioner Bell said the inquiry was “keeping a close eye” on online hate messages directed toward the Jewish community.
“Quite what this undiluted level of hatred and bigotry directed towards members of the Jewish community is thought to benefit by those who post these remarks is lost on me,” she said on Tuesday.
“But the commission has as one of its principal objects understanding and assessing the lived experience of antisemitism by members of the Jewish community and it is being informed by conduct of this character.”
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has confirmed the National Security Investigations team is conducting inquiries related to one of the matters.
The royal commission has now moved to closed hearings, with details of further hearings yet to be announced.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.abc.net.au ’
