Inquiry into right-wing radicalism: Anti-Semitism in Australia has ‘many sources’, experts warn

The rise in anti-Semitism is in part linked to an increased “convergence” between different extremist groups over a shared hatred for Jewish people, senators have been warned.

An inquiry into right-wing radicalism heard jarring testimony from a number of Jewish community groups on Monday, including from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, who warned more needed to be done to address the multiple sources of anti-Semitism.

Co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said both neo-Nazis and pro-Islam groups alike often conveyed the same messages, resulting in a blurring of lines between what was left- and what was right-wing extremism.

“There is a convergence, there’s no doubt about it, and a sharing of these and tropes and so on between different kinds of extremist groups,” he said.

He was backed up by Australia/ Israel and Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein, who criticised the inquiry’s scope for being “too narrow”.

He warned that without taking into account other forms of political or religious extremism, senators would not be able to paint a fulsome picture of the threat Jewish Australians were facing.

He said he supported the “horseshoe theory”, arguing that Islamist radicalism, the extreme left and the nationalist far right met in the middle when it came to shared apathy towards Jewish people.

Senators were also asked to consider recommending a national database to track incidents of racial hatred, similar to systems that exist in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

Sarah Schwartz from the Jewish Council of Australia said a national database would help show where anti-Semitism was coming from.

Her colleague, Max Kaiser, had earlier told senators the increased prominence of far-right Zionism posed a challenge to Australia’s crumbling social cohesion, as well as the rise of neo-Nazism.

Dr Kaiser said there were “prominent leadership groups in the Jewish community” guilty of Zionist “extremism”, who he accused of “openly collaborating with the far right since October 7”.

He pointed to recent rallies, organised by Jewish groups attended by committee deputy chair Paul Scarr, as being linked to groups that are “openly Islamophobic and Christian supremacist”.

“There is a very worrying drift to the far right by Jewish Zionist leaders in this country, who rely on anti-Palestinian racism to justify their support for Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza,” Dr Kaiser said.

In an earlier session, a panel of counter-terror experts told senators social media was pushing young Australians down online rabbit holes of right-wing extremism.

“Their exposure levels have skyrocketed,” professor Michele Grossman said.

They warned communities and governments alike had a tough task in keeping young people away from extremism.