The Hanukkah massacre at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 11, 2025 – in which 15 people were murdered and scores injured – marks the worst violence targeting Jews in Australia’s history. It follows a surge in antisemitic incidents – including violent assaults – in recent years.
Despite the blatant rise in antisemitism, Amnesty International Australia, which claims to “challenge injustice wherever it happens,” has consistently vilified and actively opposed measures intended to protect Australian Jews.
In addition, between the Hamas-orchestrated October 7th attacks and the killings at Bondi Beach, Amnesty Australia appears not to have published a single standalone report, article, or statement on antisemitism in the country.”>1 (A feeble, watered-down January 22, 2025 statement that Amnesty Australia co-signed, referenced “escalating hate crimes on the Jewish community and on the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in Australia.”)
Surging antisemitism in Australia
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) publishes annual assessments, documenting both the overall number of antisemitic incidents in Australia, as well as categorizing them and describing specific events. Its data demonstrate a sharp increase in both the total number, as well as the severity, of antisemitic incidents in Australia.
ECAJ Report on Anti-Jewish Incidents in Australia 2025, published December 3, 2025
Moreover, according to the New South Wales Police Force, from October 11, 2023 – March 26, 2025, it had recorded 367 antisemitic incidents, alongside 38 classified as Islamophobic. Notably, “In addition to incidents reported to, or investigated by, the NSW Police, the Community Security Group has recorded many hundreds of antisemitic events of which many are not recorded on NSW Police systems.”
Amnesty Australia’s advocacy campaigns against measures to prevent antisemitism
Amnesty Australia has consistently opposed measures designed to protect Jews and combat antisemitism:
In February 2025, Universities Australia (UA) – an umbrella organization representing Australia’s 39 universities – adopted a definition of antisemitism that is similar to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition.
According to the UA definition,
“Criticism of the policies and practices of the Israeli government or state is not in and of itself antisemitic. However, criticism of Israel can be antisemitic when it is grounded in harmful tropes, stereotypes or assumptions and when it calls for the elimination of the State of Israel or all Jews or when it holds Jewish individuals or communities responsible for Israel’s actions. It can be antisemitic to make assumptions about what Jewish individuals think based only on the fact that they are Jewish.
All peoples, including Jews, have the right to self-determination. For most, but not all Jewish Australians, Zionism is a core part of their Jewish identity. Substituting the word ‘Zionist’ for ‘Jew’ does not eliminate the possibility of speech being antisemitic.”
In response, Amnesty wrote that this decision “is a direct attack on fundamental freedoms, stifling freedom of speech, expression, assembly, academic debate, and protest,” adding “It does nothing to uphold safety or combat discrimination and serves only to suppress student activism and restrict political expression” (emphases added).
In response to a surge of attacks on synagogues – including firebombs, rock throwing, bomb threats, vandalism, and threatening protests – in February 2025, the government of New South Wales (NSW) passed legislation restricting protests near houses of worship, giving police greater authority to prevent them.
Amnesty labeled the law “misguided,” adding “Criminalising peaceful protest is not a solution to tackling antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism—it is a dangerous suppression of people’s human rights” (emphasis added).
In July 2025, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal published her “Plan to Combat Antisemitism.” The plan calls for increased government funding for security at Jewish sites, adoption of an antisemitism definition, educational programs, training for law-enforcement, preventing antisemitism in universities, and other measures.
Amnesty called it “an outrageous and blatant act of repression designed to stifle demands for human rights for Palestinians enduring genocide, occupation and apartheid. This dangerous plan is designed not to protect communities, but to shield Israel from criticism.
There is a real risk this plan will be weaponised to censor protest and dissent, particularly against the atrocities unfolding in Gaza. Far from addressing antisemitism, it threatens activism and shuts down calls for accountability and justice.””>5
Amnesty Australia’s consistent opposition to practical measures designed to protect Australian Jews reflects and continues longstanding Amnesty International practices in other countries, and the NGO’s myriad public advocacy campaigns that trade in antisemitic tropes and contribute to Jew-hatred around the world.