A prominent Jewish figure has told Australia’s Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion that the Bondi terror attack unleashed a “tsunami of Jew hatred” online towards him.
Arsen Ostrovsky was born in Odessa, at a time when Ukraine was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and grew up in Sydney.
A lawyer, he has worked for several Jewish organisations, including as CEO of the International Legal Forum (ILF), an Israel-based NGO.
He was caught in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in Israel and forced to shelter from rocket fire in the stairwell of his Tel Aviv apartment block.
But after the Bondi attack—in which he sustained a superficial head wound, which his 9- and 5-year-old daughters witnessed—he was subjected to a sustained barrage of abuse online.
Ostrovsky had sent a photograph of himself, taken immediately after the shooting, to a friend who'd asked if he was alright. The friend then posted the photograph online, which went viral as news of the shooting made global news.
“My phone essentially started going off nonstop with notifications,” Ostrovsky said.
“People responding both to this tweet, [and] to obviously what was quite extensive news coverage of the event as well. Other people were posting, many were tagging me, some were of course messages of solidarity, but there was almost immediately an influx of hate, abuse and vilification.
“It was surreal to be in the state that I was in, in hospital, and yet to be receiving this kind of material at the time.”
Ironically, Ostrovsky was accused of faking the image using AI, because his critics then used AI to attempt to discredit him.
One image—later debunked by the BBC—appeared to show him sitting with a makeup artist, laughing as she applied red liquid to his head.
Others were cruder, taking the original image and placing a bottle of ketchup in the picture or showing him holding an acting award.
“I came to learn about them as I was literally being prepped to go into surgery, and that is when I first found online what was happening,” he said.
These images started “spreading like wild fire,” including one taken in the hospital with bandages digitally removed, claiming he hadn’t been wounded.
They were on every social media platform, Ostrovsky said.
Ostrovsky has publicly stood firm in his defence of Israel.
For instance, X once restricted a post promoting a conference at which he was speaking because it included a cartoon depicting Hamas militants as cockroaches being crushed by an Israeli Defence Force boot.
He has also been accused of amplifying an X account that attempts to discredit Palestinians by claiming they exaggerate or fake casualty numbers.
Meanwhile, the counsel assisting, Richard Lancaster, took Ostrovsky through some of the online abuse, which he said included a “goblin trope” amongst online abuse. Those images were suppressed by the commissioner, Virginia Bell.
“The police said that they would investigate the matter further. I was informed there would police protection provided, in the sense of vehicles driving past our home to monitor the situation. I’m not aware of anything further that had been done,” he said.
Asked by Lancaster how he now felt about being Jewish in Australia, Ostrovsky said that the response to his prominence following Bondi felt there was “a target on my back.”
“Essentially, everything that is no longer fit to say about Jews is being said against ‘Zionists.’ It is the same hatred ... but expressed in a more modern language.”
“And when unchecked, it leads to violence. If it’s something that, when said on the street would not be acceptable, we cannot allow it to be acceptable to say online,” he said.
