Like many other Jewish creatives I now feel unsafe in my own country, the country that took in so many Holocaust survivors after the horrors of World War II.
My paternal grandparents were forced out of the stetls of Russia by murderous pogroms against Jewish residents, most of whom were poor farmers or tradesmen. My Palestinian maternal forebears lived peacefully alongside non-Jewish Palestinians, until my grandparents emigrated to Australia in the early twentieth century, driven out of Palestine by discrimination towards Jews by the then ruling Ottoman government.
I brought up my three children to love and respect the Jewish traditions and culture although we remain secular Jews. During the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s antisemitism lay mostly dormant. Not so after the brutal massacre of Israelis by Hamas in 2023: the dam holding back enacted Jew-hatred has burst, releasing a torrent of long-hidden venom directed towards Jewish men, women and even children. Since 7 October 2023 children attending Jewish schools in our major cities need armed guards to protect them. Those Jewish people who choose to worship in synagogues or to celebrate festivals such as Chanukah in public are at risk of antisemitic attacks, even arson or murder, as we have seen in Melbourne and Bondi.
I accept the Commission’s definition of antisemitism, while further expanding it as an insidious and entrenched form of racism which has permeated human consciousness for over two thousand years. Other instances of racism for instance towards people of colour, are mostly called out in our modern world; most Australians would never utter the N-word outside their home for fear of being shouted down. Yet I have personally been subjected to antisemitic verbal attacks disguised as jokes in public gatherings where onlookers stay silent. I have experienced slurs such as ‘dirty Jew’ uttered with impunity. in spite of our anti-discrimination laws. It seems such vilifications are not seen as racist, but as almost permissible.
Antisemitism has been a constant reminder of my other-ness. As a child I was bullied and abused for being Jewish. Other children called me a dirty Jew, and told me my people ate Christian babies. ‘You’re not Australian, you’re a Jew’ they’d taunt. I learnt to ignore these invectives and to follow Jesus’ advice turn the other cheek. Until three years ago, antisemitism in my Australia has been indirect or covert.
In Sydney, the immediate response to October 7 was to blame the Jews, as witnessed at the Sydney Opera House. The fury was like a dam bursting its banks. People who had harboured a latent dislike for the Jewish people over many years now felt they had permission to let loose with a long-buried hatred, conflating the retaliatory actions of Israel with their long-held but hidden mistrust of Jews. Australia, the country of ‘A Fair Go’ appeared to be showing its true colours.
Where is the compassion, the respect, the appreciation of philanthropy, economic development, enrichment of culture, which Jewish communities have given to Australia? Instead we are treated to cries of “Globalise the Intafada” – a call to arms to commit genocide against those who presently occupy the land of Israel, who are in the vast majority Jewish. Slogans like ‘From the river to the sea’ remind us that the goal of the pro-Palestinian protestors is to destroy Israel and thereby eliminate the Jewish people who were given this small strip of land as a refuge after the genocide of the Holocaust.
When I hear those cries and see those slogans I feel despair, fear and anger. I tell myself that surely these people, who are not themselves Palestinians, who have no skin in the game, do not understand that their strident cries are calling for yet another genocide of the Jewish people. I want to believe that these people are well-meaning, opposing the cruel and senseless killing of innocent civilians by the present Israeli government, that they are not antisemitic but anti-Zionist. But are not these two ‘isms’ conflated, so that they believe all Jewish people are Zionists?
My contention is that the current flare-up of antisemitism is fed by ignorance and misinformation festering in the minds of basically decent people. For example, the belief that Judaism is merely a religion is flawed, ignoring the cultural and racial elements which are crucial to our people. In fact one can be Jewish without being religious, as the large number of secular Jewish people can attest. There are Jewish atheists and Jewish Buddhists, for example, who feel their Jewishness as strongly as those who follow the Torah. Another misconception is that all Jews are Zionists, which is patently untrue; there are Jewish people do not support Israel. Like many other Jewish Australians, I strongly object to Israel’s atrocities towards Palestinians.
I do not believe that most Australians hate Jews; most appear indifferent, but a great many are ignorant. If anything comes of this Royal Commission, let it be strong recommendations for targeted education starting from kindergarten, explaining the true history of the Middle East and the Jewish people, teaching the differences between Judaism and Zionism, sharing the joy and celebration of our festivals. Only through knowledge and exposure to truth can we ever hope to eliminate this scourge.

by Dina Davis, Darwin NT, May 2026