Bondi royal commission live updates: Jewish Australians share harrowing lived experiences of anti-Semitism

Mr Ryvchin says he has campaigned on soaring anti-Semitism, exclusion from cultural groups, and ever-increasing violence.

“I’ve spoken to students who fear more than anything being identified with their school uniform because they would have to ... revesal their Jewishness,” he says.

“It’s been a privilege to serve the community... but there are things happening in this country that should never have happened.”

He says there are clear parallels with what happened in Ukraine and what is happening in Australia.

“I’ve dealt with death threats, threats against my children and my wife, fixated individuals, I’ve been abused on the street,” he says.

“To be called a Jewish dog on the streets of Sydney shocked me.

“Security has been a part of my life. It angers me that this great country which my grandparents cherished has fallen to such a point.”

Alex Ryvchin is the co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

He starts by talking about how his family migrated to Australia from Ukraine due to institutionalised anti-Semitism.

“I think we’ve seen elements of that in this country in the last few years,” he says.

“I was born in Australia, I’ve grown up in this communty,” she sayd.

“There’s always unfortunately been a need for security... but the frequency, visibility and intensity of these anti-Semitic attacks has increased in recent years.”

She says it’s “not theoretical” and is impacting all children.

Her husband and five-year-old daughter were at Bondi for the terror attacks.

“I just really want all of our children to grow up in Australia feeling safe for being who they are.”

Ms Schwartz concludes her testimony with that line.

Ms Schwartz is talking about an interfaith program Mount Sinai used to hold with a local Muslim school.

She said the program was cancelled by the Muslim school after the October 7 attacks.

When they tried to open a new interfaith program the school refused, and repeated attempts to reopen the program failed with other schools.

However she did say that she could confirm today that a local Catholic school had recently agreed to engage with Mount Sinai in an interfaith program.

Ms Schwartz said the graffiti attack on the school included references to ‘Jew dogs’ on the wall outside the school.

She says she believes it was designed for maximum impact on students.

She became emotional while describing the impact it also had on non-Jewish children, some of whom had gone home to their parents to ask them what “Jew dogs” meant.

Ms Schwartz is continuing her testimony, discussing a graffiti attack on Mount Sinai College.

Court has adjourned for lunch and will continue with Ms Schwartz’s testimony after that.

The hearings will resume at 2pm AEST.

Stefanie Schwartz, the president of Mount Sinai College in New South Wales, is talking about the extraordinary security precautions Jewish schools must take.

She says the school has also had to put in place efforts to ensure children aren’t re-traumatised.

They even have to complete risk assessments for “walks across the road to the park”.

“These, I can only imagine, are conversations that regular primary schools are not having.”

Ms Schwartz says parents understand that the school needs community and are willing to help shoulder the financial burden.

“We were walking to the event and my wife was on the phone talking to a vet about our cat,” he says.

She wanted to continue her phone conversation outside the event when they arrived, but security informed her “there was no milling about”.

He says the fences and guards that serve to keep them safe are a paradox - they feed into the public perception that Jews are willingly isolating themselves.

“It started out with a joke about Jews in the oven, then it devolved into a joke about Jews being turned into soap and it got quite uncomfortable,” he said.

He says he fired a complaint up the chain of command to his superior, who had created a permissive environment by telling the first anti-Semitic joke.

He agreed it wssn’t appropriiate but Ben says his commanding officer failed to understand how their behaviour had impacted the other soldiers under his command.