Jewish Council Co-Founder Warns Royal Commission Response Risks Silencing Jewish Voices

The Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has heard concerns that some responses to antisemitism following the Bondi terror attack may be making it harder for Jewish Australians to express a range of political views.

Appearing before the inquiry this week, Jewish Council of Australia co-founder Sarah Schwartz told commissioners that public discussion since the attack had increasingly framed antisemitism as originating primarily from pro-Palestinian movements and migrant communities, a trend she said was having unintended consequences for both Jewish and Muslim Australians.

The evidence forms part of the ongoing royal commission established after the December 2025 Bondi attack, which claimed 15 lives and prompted a wide ranging examination of antisemitism, extremism and social cohesion across Australia.

Royal Commission hears concerns about post-Bondi narrative

Schwartz said government and policy responses following the attack had contributed to a narrowing of public debate.

“I think a lot of government and policy responses to anti-Semitism … have focused on anti-Semitism as being primarily sourced within the Palestine solidarity movement,” she told the commission.

“There’s been a lot of discussion, particularly in the wake of Bondi (terror attack) that seeks to locate the source of anti-Semitism with migrants.”

“I think (that) has a really chilling effect on Jewish people and means that they can’t speak their political views and I’m incredibly concerned about that.”

Her evidence followed previous hearings that heard from Sydney Jewish community members, including LGBTQIA+ participants in the 2026 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, who described fears for their safety amid heightened tensions surrounding the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Schwartz also raised concerns about assumptions linking Jewish identity to support for Israel.

“I think a prevailing stereotype about Jewish people, is that we are all politically aligned in support of the state of Israel. That stereotype is demonstrably untrue,” she said.

“It’s very hard for Palestinian and Muslim communities who are constantly being accused of anti-Semitism before they can even speak about their own painful experiences and their own experiences of their relatives in Gaza, that makes it very difficult to engage in honest and reflective dialogue.”

“But it also sends a message to the Jewish community and to Jewish people like me, because what those responses suggest is that there is something inherent to Jewish identity that is tied to Israel, that it is inherent to our identity, that we support Israel, support the political ideology of Zionism.”

“The suggestion then is that Jews like me, of which there are growing numbers who don’t support the actions of the state of Israel, that our Jewishness then is called into question, that we aren’t as Jewish because our identities aren’t tied to the state of Israel.

“So I think that government responses, which locate the source of anti-Semitism within the Palestine Solidarity movement, suggests for Jewish people who are also part of that movement, that either were not really Jewish or that we are somehow against Jewish people are in communities who, you know, we find an incredible connection to.”

Schwartz said many Jewish Australians had told her they were reluctant to publicly express support for Palestinians due to fear of backlash.

“If you are a Jewish person like me who is critical of Israel, then you’re not really Jewish, … you are a traitor to your own people and you’re, in the worst case, aligned with Nazis.”

The commission also heard evidence from Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt, who described efforts to remove extremist content online following the 2024 stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney’s west.

Public hearings are continuing as the commission examines the causes of rising antisemitism, extremism and community division in the aftermath of the Bondi attack, with Commissioner Virginia Bell expected to deliver a final report before the first anniversary of the tragedy.