Anti-Jewish attacks in Australia quadrupled after October 7, report finds
Report’s authors say the 2,062 incidents recorded still understate the seriousness of the surge in antisemitism
Australian Jews experienced more than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents over the past year, more than quadruple the number from the previous year, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) said in a report published Sunday.
A total of 2,062 incidents were recorded between October 2023 and September 2024, far more than the 495 incidents noted a year earlier. The total does not include antisemitic statements made on social media.
The findings were similar to those published last week on antisemitic behavior in New Zealand over the past year. That report, published by the New Zealand Jewish Council, found that there were 226 antisemitic attacks in the year following the October 7 attacks, more than in the nine years beforehand combined. There are fewer than 10,000 Jews living in New Zealand.
Antisemitic incidents have surged in Jewish communities around the world since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists in Gaza launched a war on Israel, infiltrating towns, killing some 1,200 people, and taking 251 hostages in a shocking assault. Many countries are now facing anti-Jewish activity — fueled by virulent criticism of Israeli policies and amplified by incitement on social media — at levels not seen since the Holocaust, with antisemitic incidents up by 100% to 300% or more in many countries, according to surveys.
“There has never been anything like an annual increase of this magnitude,” said ECAJ research director Julie Nathan, who compiled the annual report. “If anything, the raw numbers understate the seriousness of the surge in antisemitism that has occurred.”
The most notable incidents included anti-Israel protests outside synagogues and Jewish schools, anti-Israel activists targeting small businesses owned by Jewish families, Jewish homes targeted with hate graffiti and stickers, and a huge increase in physical assaults against Jews and verbal abuse on the streets, Nathan noted.
A series of local events shortly after October 7 set the tone in Australia for the year to follow, the report said. In Western Sydney one day after the massacre, Sheikh Ibrahim Daoud addressed a large protest rally glorifying the murder of Jews in Israel, shouting to the crowd, “I’m elated. It’s a day of courage, it’s a day of resistance, it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory.”
A day later, outside the iconic Sydney Opera House, an anti-Israel mob gathered, set off flares and chanted “Fuck the Jews!” “Where’s the Jews?” and, according to
several witnesses, “Gas the Jews!” while police stood by watching. This was the first of many street protests held in Australian cities every weekend throughout the year, the report said.
More than 2,000 incidents would follow.
In one, the doxxing of a group of 600 Jews resulted in many of them losing their jobs or having their small businesses targeted, with some forced to move to other neighborhoods for safety.
In November 2023, a large mob of anti-Israel protesters descended on a Melbourne synagogue on Friday evening. A riot broke out, rocks were thrown at Jews, and the synagogue had to be evacuated for the congregants’ safety.
In May 2024, Jews in Melbourne attending a “Never Again is Now” rally against antisemitism were accosted and physically assaulted by an anti-Israel mob blocking their way.
In October 2023, a 44-year-old Jewish man in Sydney was called a “Jew dog” and assaulted in a public park by three males, sustaining a concussion and fractures to his spine.
The perpetrators of these incidents come from a diverse range of anti-Israel interests, including Arab/Muslim groups, left-wing progressives, and right-wing and neo-Nazi antisemites, as well as unaffiliated haters, the report noted. It called for a greater public response to the violence.
“The response from political and community leaders, university executives, and civil society has been tepid at best,” Nathan said. “The physical, verbal, and other forms of attacks on Jewish individuals, families, and community venues will continue to worsen unless governments, police, and others show some spine by taking resolute action to halt the rising tide of acts of hatred against the Jewish community and bringing those responsible to account.”
