Anti-Semitic incidents fall 20pc, but remain well above pre-war levels

The number of physical and non-physical attacks on Jewish Australians fell 20 per cent over the past year to 1654, according to a tally maintained by community volunteers that suggests tensions over the war between Hamas and Israel may be abating.

Although below the 1858 average since the war began on October 7, 2023, the figure is much higher than the pre-war average of 342.

The incidents covered by the study, which was published on Wednesday by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and covers the 12 months ended September 30, range from assaults, vandalism, graffiti, to threatening or abusive messages and anti-Jewish posters.

The tally suggests that anti-Semitic aggression switched from physical assaults, which fell from 65 to 24, to vandalism, which increased from 29 to 33, as police forces around the country more aggressively pursued the perpetrators.

One victim was the Executive Council’s co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin. In January a house owned by Mr Ryvchin in Sydney’s eastern suburbs was vandalised and two cars nearby were set alight after the words “F--- Israel” and “F--- Jews” were written on them.

“When you look at the actors responsible for the attacks, it ranges from foreign states, to organised criminals, to neo-Nazis, the far-left and individuals who seem to have no ideological affiliation,” Mr Ryvchin told The Nightly. “It shows we are dealing with an extremely complicated situation which is unlikely to improve any time soon.”

Iran’s war

The display of anti-Jewish posters and stickers almost halved to 379 following the banning of Nazi swastikas and other symbols of racial hate. The figures are compiled by community security groups on behalf of Jewish state representative bodies.

In August the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation accused the Iranian regime of using criminals to carry out arson attacks on Melbourne’s Adass synagogue last December and a kosher cafe and catering service in Sydney, Lewis’ Continental Kitchen.

“It is irrelevant whether or not the local criminals who were recruited to carry out these attacks knew where their orders were ultimately coming from,” ECAJ Research Director Julie Nathan wrote in the report.

“That regime clearly sees its war of annihilation against Israel as a war against the entire Jewish people, even if the regime’s apologists in Australia and elsewhere are too obtuse or dishonest to acknowledge it.”

Some critics of Israel, including NSW MP Mark Latham, allege the figures are exaggerated and Australia does not have a serious anti-Semitic problem.

Mr Latham, the former leader of the federal Liberal Party, recently read passages in Parliament from Mein Kampf, the political manifesto published by Adolf Hitler in 1925.

A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that came into effect on October 10 ended most of the fighting, already sporadic clashes continue to occur and cost of the lives of 347 Palestinians, according to Amnesty International.