Australia's Attorney-General Michelle Rowland (L) speaks on the Royal Commission on last year's antisemitic attack where two gunmen killed 15 Jews at Australia's Bondi Beach, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (R) and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke look on during a press conference in Sydney on April 30, 2026. (Saeed KHAN / AFP)
Sydney: An inquiry into a shooting that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah festival near Australia's Bondi Beach heard Monday that Sydney's Jewish community feared "catastrophe" was coming as antisemitic attacks rose.
The federal royal commission -- the highest level of government inquiry -- was called to probe factors leading to the attack by two gunmen on Jewish families near Australia's best-known beach in December.
"The sharp spike of antisemitism that we have witnessed in Australia has been mirrored in other Western countries and seems clearly linked to events in the Middle East," inquiry chief Virginia Bell said in opening remarks.
"It's important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians simply because they are Jews."
- 'Oldest hatreds' -
The inquiry has received thousands of submissions about the impact of "one of society's oldest hatreds", said the counsel assisting the inquiry, Zelie Hegen.
Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was killed in the Bondi attack, told the inquiry there had been a shift in antisemitism since 2023, when the Gaza war began.
"Antisemitism was allowed to come into the open," she said.
Her refugee parents had met at Bondi Beach, a scene of many happy childhood memories for her.
"Now Bondi holds a really, really heavy weight in our community's heart," she said.
