Anti-Semitism Bubbling Away Until Bondi

Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry began recording (pdf) hundreds to thousands of anti-Semitic incidents in the years leading up to the Bondi attack.

The incidents ranged from vandalism and abuse, to arson and threats, including swastika graffiti, verbal abuse, attacks on Jewish businesses and properties, and the fire-bombing of a Melbourne synagogue in late 2024.

Following the Bondi attack, both the Coalition and the One Nation Party criticised the Albanese government for its perceived failure to take a stronger stance against anti-Semitic sentiment around the mass protest after Oct. 7 on the steps of the iconic Sydney Opera House, as well as the 90,000-strong pro-Palestine march in August across the Harbour Bridge.

“Every day for the last two years, the lives of Jewish Australians have been made harder by the rising tide of anti-Semitism ... They’ve heard a lot of words, they want to see action, and they want this to be the real catharsis for action,” Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told ABC Mornings program in December.

The Labor administration was also criticised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he had warned Australian leaders months before the Bondi tragedy that Canberra’s support for Palestinian statehood would “pour fuel on the anti-Semitic fire” and risk encouraging anti‑Jewish violence.

U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has also criticised the Australian government, blaming the country’s migration policy.

“The tragic Islamist terror attack against those at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia sadly should not come as a surprise to anyone,” she wrote in an X post on Dec. 17. “This is the direct result of the massive influx of Islamists to Australia. Their goal is not only the Islamisation of Australia but the entire world—including the United States.”

Gabbard described Islamists and Islamism as “the greatest threat to the freedom, security, and prosperity of the United States and the entire world.”

“It is probably too late for Europe—and maybe Australia. It is not too late for the United States of America. But it soon will be,” she wrote.

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