All visitors to Sydney set their sights on three iconic locations: the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and Bondi Beach.

There is now no way around the fact that these icons have become a pilgrimage of antisemitism. In just over two years, each was appropriated for the cause of antisemitism. The incidents reflect the changing environment in Sydney – and Australia more generally – and highlight the challenge faced when antisemitism is unchecked.

I have watched this change from the center of the Australian Jewish community, initially as President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the national representative roof body of the Jewish community, and then as Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism.

While anti-Jewish incidents collected by the ECAJ had been increasing before October 7, 2023, the first dramatic signs of this profound cultural shift were seen clearly on October 9, 2023, when the sails of the Sydney Opera House were to be projected in the colors of the Israeli flag in solidarity with the Israeli victims of the attacks on October 7. Jews and their supporters were subsequently asked not to attend the Opera House by the police on the grounds that they feared for the safety of people who were identifiably Jewish or Zionist.

This was because a rally was being held on the Opera House forecourt at which the participants appeared to be celebrating the Hamas attacks on October 7. The Israeli flag was burnt, and recordings suggest that chants included, “Gas the Jews,” although some claim that the chant was in fact, “Where’s the Jews?” and “F--the Jews.” Many felt that these latter chants were no less intimidating.

The failure of the police and the New South Wales government to prevent and immediately condemn this rally emboldened others. The ECAJ subsequently reported 2,062 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, compared with 495 in the previous twelve months.

February 2024 saw the emergence of a different form of antisemitism, with the “doxing” of six hundred Jewish artists. A WhatsApp group for Jewish creatives was infiltrated, and their personal information was shared publicly by people who encouraged others to shun, if not intimidate, these artists. These artists were ostracized by their colleagues, losing lifelong friends, work, and even accommodation.

By the middle of 2024, vandalism of buildings (including schools and synagogues) and firebombing of cars was escalating sharply. After more than six months of inadequate government response, the Office of Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism was established, and I was appointed as Special Envoy. It was announced at the same time that there would also be a Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia.

Aside from the breakdown in controlling antisemitic acts in neighborhoods surrounding Jewish schools, communities, and synagogues, there was also a serious problem developing on the campuses of major universities around the country, mirroring events in the US, UK, and Europe. This took a range of forms, but most prominently the sudden emergence of encampments. These were allegedly constituted by students and staff of the universities who sought to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people in the aftermath of the Israeli response to Hamas attacks. However, there is reason to believe that agents outside the university community were driving these activities and related demonstrations. Antisemitic posters and graffiti also proliferated, leaving Jewish students and staff on campus feeling intimidated and unsafe. The inadequate response of many universities was to encourage Jewish students to study from home.

One of my first tasks as Special Envoy was to prepare a submission to a Senate inquiry into whether a judicial enquiry should be held into antisemitism on Australian university campuses. This involved interviewing dozens of traumatized university students and staff who had been affected by antisemitism on university campuses. As someone who had a long involvement in university governance, I was genuinely shocked by how serious and pervasive the problem of antisemitism had become, how impacted the students were, and how profoundly inadequate the response of university leaders had been.

The situation deteriorated further on December 6, 2024, with an arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in suburban Melbourne. This was by far the worst attack to date. I inspected the very serious damage done to the fabric of the building, but perhaps most poignantly, the charred Torah scrolls and many holy books that had been desecrated. At this point, it was impossible for the Jewish community’s memory of Kristallnacht not to instill a sense of fear and apprehension.

The new year brought no improvement. In January 2025, a childcare center near a synagogue in suburban Sydney was firebombed. Graffiti, vandalism, and threats became the norm. Many in the wider community, as well as in the Jewish community, felt that all levels of government had lost control of the situation. A joint federal and state terrorism police taskforce was established by the federal and state governments and the states engaged in law reform, but it was a case of too little, too late.

A particularly shocking incident was revealed in February 2025, when antisemitism within the healthcare system was exposed in the most striking way. A video emerged of two nurses at a hospital in suburban Sydney speaking to an Israeli influencer via an online video chat platform. The two nurses claimed that they had deliberately killed Israeli patients and would continue doing so if the opportunity arose again.

Confronted by these reports that antisemitism was rife in once-trusted institutions ranging from universities to hospitals, from social media to the arts, and from school to streets, I spent my first year as Special Envoy listening to the community around the country, speaking with university presidents and public officials. I also used this time to research international best practices, including attending meetings and discussions with envoys from other countries. This resulted in the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism, which was launched by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in July 2024 in the week following a particularly serious antisemitic incident.

My plan involved thirteen strategic priorities:

  • Definition of antisemitism
  • Law and order reform
  • Education
  • University reform
  • Increased coordination of security services
  • Regulation of internet and social media
  • The arts and public broadcasting
  • Social cohesion building across Australian society
  • Migration
  • Multicultural and interfaith dialogue
  • Engagement with other countries
  • Advancement of vibrant Jewish life
  • Ongoing data collection

The Australian Government did not issue any immediate public response to my Plan. The official response was that the Government would wait and consider this together with plans from the Islamophobia envoy and the racial discrimination commissioner, and then issue a response to all three at once.

In practice, I was given support in a number of areas, particularly educational initiatives, as well as for an organized review of universities (the University Report Card).

On August 3, 2025, mounting concern about the situation in Gaza prompted a demonstration that involved a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, involving some 9,000 people. While motivations for participating in the demonstration may have varied, it was apparent that some of those present harbored antisemitic attitudes. Much attention focused on the image of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which was visible at the front of the protest.

Shortly afterwards, the ECAJ announced that 1,654 incidents had been reported by September 30, 2025. This was three times above pre-October 2023 levels. Australian Security Intelligence Organization head Mike Burgess warned that antisemitism was the greatest threat his agency was monitoring, and the community continued to be fearful.

On December 14, 2025, everyone’s worst fears were realized when two men opened fire on a community gathering to celebrate Hanukkah at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Fifteen innocent people were killed – the youngest only ten years old – and more were injured by gunfire before one gunman was shot dead and the other incapacitated. Islamic State flags and explosives were found, suggesting that the attack was intended to be far graver than the massacre that in fact occurred.

The incident was immediately recognized officially as an act of terrorism according to Australian law. It was the worst targeted terrorist attack that has ever occurred on Australian soil.

Within a week of the massacre, the Australian Government issued Eliminating Antisemitism: Australian Government response to the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism. In this document, the government outlined what it was doing to address each of the thirteen priority areas in my Plan. Prime Minister Albanese announced that the Government accepted the Plan “in full.”

A New South Wales state-level inquiry was announced into the events leading up to the attack. There were, however, also growing calls from all sections of the community to establish a Commonwealth Royal Commission to investigate the attack and the rise in antisemitism. In Australia, such a commission has the widest-ranging powers of any form of public inquiry.

Notwithstanding heightened security arrangements and nationwide shock after the terror attack, a rabbi’s car displaying a Happy Hanukkah sign was set on fire on Christmas day.

In the new year, the Prime Minister announced that parliament would be recalled early to pass emergency legislation, dealing with vilification, hate speech, and prescribed organizations, as well as gun law restrictions, and that an official inquiry into any security failings prior to the terrorist attack would be established, but that this would not be a Commonwealth Royal Commission.

The emergency session of parliament successfully passed laws dealing with gun control, prescribed organizations and immigration, but not hate speech, despite the Jewish community leaders calling for this.

Finally, on January 9, 2026, the Prime Minister acquiesced to mounting pressure and agreed to appoint a Royal Commission to investigate the attack at Bondi Beach as well as the conditions that had led to rising antisemitism and deteriorating social cohesion. The community and my office will be active participants in the Royal Commission.

A national day of mourning was proclaimed for January 22, 2026, with a memorial event held at the Sydney Opera House that evening. The theme chosen by the Chabad Community in Bondi for the event was “Light will win, a gathering of unity and remembrance.” The Prime Minister delivered a strong speech at the Sydney Opera House in support of the Jewish community, expressing regret that “we could not protect your loved ones from the evil.” He repeated that “an attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on all Australians.”

Further, the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, extended an invitation to the President of the State of Israel to pay an official visit to Australia in February 2026. This was described by the Prime Minister as a ‘pastoral visit’ intended to offer consolation to those directly affected by the massacre at Bondi Beach and the wider Jewish community.

Although the President did spend time with those affected by Bondi and did also start the process of a relationship reset between Australia and Israel, his visit was met with large protests, including antisemitic slogans. The world was left in no doubt that his visit revealed the extent to which social cohesion in Australian society had deteriorated in measures not recorded in living memory.

This brief sketch of an explosion of antisemitism is unprecedented in Australian history, as Australia has traditionally been a largely safe and welcoming country for its Jewish population. What is notable is the diversity of expressions of antisemitism in contemporary Australia. It has involved hate crimes, violence, and terrorism, but it has also involved the non-violent behavior that has prevented students from going about their studies at university, academics being de-platformed, and artists being denied opportunities to perform or exhibit their work.

My Plan for Combatting Antisemitism is ambitious. There is no quick fix and no single answer. My office is leading efforts ranging across law and order, eSafety, healthcare, school education, universities, and the arts. There can be no doubt that addressing the surge in Australian antisemitism requires a whole-of-society response. Much is happening in each area.

In the months since the massacre at Bondi Beach, I have been struck by a renewed sense of support for the Jewish community and regret that their concerns had not been taken more seriously. Australians across all walks of life were urged to perform ‘a mitzvah’ in honor of those killed. None of us can look at the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge or Bondi Beach in quite the same way anymore, but I am hopeful that as the country struggles to rebuild social cohesion, these will once again become unifying landmarks.

  • Jillian Segal AO is Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism and a former President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

The author is grateful for the contribution of Dr. Damien Freeman to the preparation of the essay.