The head of the Australian government commission looking into the Bondi Beach terror attack reported Tuesday that witnesses who testified before the commission were facing an onslaught of online harassment and intimidation.
Virginia Bell, head of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, warned that those who engage in such behavior could face prosecution and that the police had been contacted about at least one case so far. The former high court judge made her comments ahead of the second day of a second round of public hearings to assess the timeline and circumstances surrounding the December Hanukkah attack in Sydney that left 15 people dead.
“We have received reports from a number of witnesses concerning a dramatic increase in online hate messages,” she said, adding that at least one of the instances was referred to the Australian Federal Police, Australia’s ABC News reported.
“I want to make it unequivocally clear,” Bell stated. “The intimidation of witnesses assisting a Royal Commission is an extraordinarily serious matter.”
She added that the commission is monitoring, recording, and archiving the posts, noting, “We will not tolerate attempts to subvert this inquiry or silence those who have been brave enough to speak.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the launch of the inquiry in January following mounting pressure from Jewish leaders to establish one.
On Monday, a New South Wales police officer told the commission that no threat assessment was prepared for the Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, where two attackers killed 15 people and injured dozens, despite warnings from a local Jewish security group of the risks.
Spy chief: Antisemitism ‘left unchecked’
Australia’s spy chief, Mike Burgess, also told the inquiry Monday that antisemitism in the country had been “left unchecked” following Oct. 7, 2023, leaving Jewish Australians “on the receiving end.”
Natalie Levy, a volunteer with a local Jewish security group, was among those who testified during the first hearings after the commission asked members of the community to share their “lived Jewish experience.” She told the commission, “My daughter sees swastikas etched all around the school; children saying ‘Heil Hitler’ and putting up their arm in a salute,” The Guardian reported.
She added, “I can’t believe that this, in 2026, in this beautiful country, that antisemitism has become so normalized and people are unashamedly being antisemitic and saying the most vile things about Jewish people, Jewish children.”
Slurs used against Levy
Speaking about her own experiences, Levy said, “I’ve been called a ‘k***,’ a ‘dirty Jew,’ a ‘dirty Jewish pig,’ a ‘baby killer,’ a ‘baby eater’ and ‘genocidal.’”
Jillian Segal, the Australian government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, also testified, stating that hatred towards Jews was becoming “almost fashionable.”
During the Dec. 14 attack, 15 people were killed – including Chabad emissary Rabbi Eli Schlanger and a 10-year-old girl – and dozens were injured after two heavily armed men opened fire on a crowd of hundreds attending a gathering known as “Chanukah by the Sea.”
