Bondi royal commission live updates: Jewish Australians share harrowing lived experiences of anti-Semitism
Jewish Australians are sharing their harrowing lived experiences of anti-Semitism within the country as part of the royal commission into the Bondi terror attack.
Scroll down for the latest news and updates.
Key events
04 May 2026 - 02:49 PM
‘We were preparing for a mass casualty event’
04 May 2026 - 02:42 PM
Holocaust survivor re-traumatised by Australian anti-Semitism
04 May 2026 - 02:31 PM
‘They cannot break your spirit’
04 May 2026 - 02:23 PM
Closing comments from Mr Halas
04 May 2026 - 02:22 PM
Jewish people ‘scaredd to come forward’: Halas
04 May 2026 - 02:11 PM
Anti-Semitism started to accelerate during COVID
04 May 2026 - 02:07 PM
Anthony Halas is called as next witness
04 May 2026 - 02:05 PM
Closing statement from Mr Halasz
04 May 2026 - 02:02 PM
Reaction to October 7 attack like a ‘physical blow’
04 May 2026 - 01:46 PM
Anti-Semitism didn’t disappear with the nazis: Halasz
04 May 2026 - 01:35 PM
Mr Raphael reveals Bondi trauma
04 May 2026 - 01:30 PM
‘Why do people want to put swastikas on the front of a synagogue?’
04 May 2026 - 01:24 PM
Mr Raphael describes shocking anti-Semitic assault at university
04 May 2026 - 01:15 PM
Rabbi Benjamin’s closing statement
04 May 2026 - 01:08 PM
Congregants don’t tell Uber drivers where they’re going: Rabbi Benjamin
04 May 2026 - 01:02 PM
Rabbi Benjamin describes series of verbal and physical assaults
04 May 2026 - 12:56 PM
How anti-Zionism becomes anti-Semitism
04 May 2026 - 12:48 PM
The way forward is education and consequences: Ryvchin
04 May 2026 - 12:45 PM
Lack of consequence normalises anti-Semitic behaviour: Ryvchin
04 May 2026 - 12:42 PM
Bondi ‘broke my heart’: Ryvchin
04 May 2026 - 12:34 PM
‘I knew sooner or later someone was going to be dead’: Ryvchin
04 May 2026 - 12:30 PM
Ryvchin describes discovering his former home had been targeted
04 May 2026 - 12:28 PM
Australian anti-Semitism is ‘soaring’: Ryvchin
04 May 2026 - 12:22 PM
We’re now hearing from Alex Ryvchin
04 May 2026 - 12:19 PM
‘I just want our children to feel safe’: Schwartz
04 May 2026 - 12:17 PM
How anti-Semitism impacted interfaith program
04 May 2026 - 12:10 PM
Impact of graffiti attack on Mount Sinai College
04 May 2026 - 11:04 AM
Jewish college president reveals extent of security measures
04 May 2026 - 10:54 AM
Ben describes normalisation of security at Jewish events
04 May 2026 - 10:45 AM
Ben shares experience of army reserve colleagues making anti-Semitic jokes
04 May 2026 - 10:40 AM
Ben shares horrific family bashing story
04 May 2026 - 10:35 AM
AAM says ‘devastated and depleted’ Jewish families are leaving Australia
04 May 2026 - 10:14 AM
AAM describes anti-Semitic attack on kids’ school
04 May 2026 - 10:09 AM
‘How did we get here?’
04 May 2026 - 10:05 AM
AAM describes terrifying night at Melbourne synagogue
04 May 2026 - 09:50 AM
AAL describes ‘disturbing and shocking’ school incident
04 May 2026 - 09:44 AM
AAL describes ‘mad chaos’ at Oct 9 protests
04 May 2026 - 09:37 AM
AAK says Australian Jews need others to listen to them
04 May 2026 - 09:31 AM
AAK describes ‘uncomfortable’ scenes at post-October 7 protest in Sydney
04 May 2026 - 09:15 AM
Jewish Australian ‘genuinely terrified’ by anti-Semitism
04 May 2026 - 08:38 AM
Iran responds to Trump's Project Freedom’
04 May 2026 - 07:14 AM
Government won’t extend fuel excise cut beyond June in Budget
04 May 2026 - 06:59 AM
Trump posts ‘I HAVE ALL THE CARDS’ as meme war rages
04 May 2026 - 06:49 AM
Wong pushes China fuel talks as Hormuz tensions escalate
04 May 2026 - 06:32 AM
Trump keeps pressure on Iran as peace deal doubts grow
04 May 2026 - 06:10 AM
Iran tensions surge as Trump launches ‘Project Freedom’
Closing statement from Mr Halasz
To conclude, Mr Halasz asks that the royal commission “listens carefully”.
“We are like any other Australians, we are asking for nothing more than the right to live as such,” he says.
That concludes Mr Halasz’ statement.
Jewish Australians think of Israel as relocation back-up plan
He says Jewish people think of Israel as a “safety valve”.
“If things get worse here, maybe that is an option to go and live there,” he says.
Reaction to October 7 attack like a ‘physical blow’
“What happened next in Australia hit our community like a physical blow,” he says.
Mr Halasz discusses the pro-Palestinian protests along with the rise in anti-Semitism.
“I was not prepared for this. After 66 years in Australia, after everything I thought this country stood for, I was not prepared.”
He says for the first time since he had left Hungary he felt like he should not wear his Star of David and he had to hide who he was.
He says for 17 years in Hungary he lived with anti-Semitism “next to me”.
He says he recognises it and has seen it beomce resurgent in Australia.
Bondi “asserted” the feelings he had.
Wearing a Star of David wasn’t always a safety risk: Halasz
Mr Halasz says his son grew up in Australia wearing a Star of David.
He says that wasn’t something that necessarily was a negative thinig in years gone by in Australia.
Anti-Semitism didn’t disappear with the nazis: Halasz
Mr Halasz is discussing surviving nazi Germany.
But he says anti-Semitism didn’t end with Germany’s defeat.
He says Soviet Hungary, which was a dictatorship, was “just as bad”.
“I grew up in an environment where being Jewish was ... a liability. I learned to conceal who I was.”
Holocaust survivor testifies
Peter Halasz OAM is a Sydney-based Hungarian holocaust survivor.
He says what we’re living through today in Australia is “something we recognise” from the years before World War II.
Mr Raphael reveals Bondi trauma
He says the Newtown Synagogue had an event on the same day.
Local residents were also holding a joint street Christmas party that day.
He says he heard “a lot of noise behind him” while giving a speech.
The congregants were told to “evacuate immediately” from the nearby park.
As we were packing up we got wind of what had happened.
“That could easily have been us,” he says.
“You just don’t know where these people are going to choose to get you.”
He says the ongoing trauma of that day is that it took place on the first day of Hanukkah.
“It changed the course of my life and it changed the course of so many other people’s lives,” he says.
Mr Raphael says he was on security duty at his kids’ school on Friday, where he was one of four parents, three armed security guards and two police officers standing guard.
“Why do kids have to go to school like that?” he sakded.
“Just because they’re Jews?”
He says the fear was not anywhere near as present before the October 7 attacks, before wrapping up his evidence.
‘Why do people want to put swastikas on the front of a synagogue?’
Mr Raphael is talking about the anti-Semitic graffiti attack on the front of the Newtown Synagogue.
He questioned why someone would want to spray paint a swastika on the front of a synagogue.
“What benefit would they get?”
Mr Raphael describes shocking anti-Semitic assault at university
Mr Raphael is describing a shocking incident at the University of Sydney where a man who was protesting walked up to him and called him a “dirty f...ing pig Jew” before spitting in his face.
Security encouraged Mr Raphael to move on rather than the perpetrator.
“I was shellshocked, I was in trauma, I couldn’t believe it,” he says.
Next witness: Toby Raphael
Newtown Synagogue vice-president Toby Raphael is speaking now.
