Australia launches long work on the causes of the Bondi attack

Nearly five months after the attack on a Jewish party on Bondi Beach, Australia began a process of introspection on Monday, with a series of public hearings which opened with the question of anti-Semitism.

Under pressure in the face of the deadliest attack on Australian soil in three decades, the government finally agreed to convene a federal royal commission, the highest possible body of inquiry and the first of this type since 2022.

She must look into the factors that led to the tragedy of December 14, when a father and son opened fire for around ten minutes on a crowd gathered on Australia's most famous beach to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, killing 15 people.

The attacker Sajid Akram was killed by police while his son Naveed, 24, is detained and prosecuted for terrorist crimes.

The public hearings of the commission of inquiry, whose conclusions are expected next December, began in Sydney with testimony concerning anti-Semitism. A hot topic as the government has been accused of inaction in the face of this scourge.

“The sharp upsurge in anti-Semitism that we have seen in Australia is mirrored in other Western countries and appears clearly linked to events in the Middle East,” said retired judge Virginia Bell, who chairs the commission, in her opening speech.

“It is important that people understand how quickly these events can give rise to violent displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians, simply because they are Jewish,” she added.

- “Summer of Terror” -

Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was killed in the Bondi attack, explained to the commission that she had noticed a rise in anti-Semitism from 2023 with the start of the war in Gaza, led by Israel following the bloody Hamas attack.

“Anti-Semitism was able to come out into the open,” declared this woman whose parents, refugees, had met at Bondi Beach.

The commission of inquiry received thousands of testimonies to this effect, according to Zelie Hegen, a lawyer participating in the work.

She notably mentioned anti-Semitic chants during a demonstration against the war in Gaza near the Sydney Opera House in October 2023, shortly after the October 7 attack.

She said a "summer of terror" followed, marked by a series of arsons and graffiti against synagogues and Jewish businesses in Sydney and Melbourne.

Jewish community associations recorded 2,062 anti-Semitic incidents over the following year.

- "Australian spirit" -

A woman working in Jewish community protection described having to secure people at a Melbourne synagogue in November