Before October 7, 2023, Gaby Silver says he had never encountered antisemitic hate in Australia.

Sure, there were the schoolboys who pointed out his teams’ “Jewishness” when he played cricket as a youngster in Melbourne’s south-east suburbs.

While it was wrong, he didn’t find it threatening.

“It was more just the psychological thing … trying to put you off your game,” he recalls.

Other than that, being a Jew was never an issue.

The 51-year-old truly believed Australia was the lucky country, a multicultural society where everyone could live in harmony.

But that changed shortly after the October 7 attacks in Israel in which more than 1,200 people were killed by Hamas.

In the hours after, as he and his two teenage children walked down a busy St Kilda street to synagogue in their religious garb, two carloads of people drove past them, screaming out the windows as they went.

“They yelled, ‘You f***ing Jewish dogs, we’re going to kill you all’,” Gaby says.

“And that’s when I realised we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

A man with a long beard, grey cap and glasses in a white collared shirt stands beside a street with his arms crossed.

Gaby Silver says the first time he was abused on the streets of Melbourne was in the hours after the October 7 attacks. (ABC News)

Since then Gaby estimates every few weeks people are emboldened enough to yell out of car windows at him and his family.

This hate has shaped how Gaby, his wife and six children aged from seven to 17 have existed for the past two years.

Now it’s even more front of mind after 15 people were shot dead in the massacre targeting a Chabad Jewish celebration on Bondi beach.

Gaby is also from the Chabad movement, a type of observant Judaism.

“It’s legitimately affecting our life in a palpable way. Every day we feel exposed and vulnerable and have a feeling of alertness,” he says.

“It’s exhausting.

“Our grandparents came here because they wanted to escape from this crap.”Verbal abuse, threats leads Gaby to become volunteer

Gaby had never felt the need to take an active role protecting his community.

But after he was screamed at out car windows he believed it was now necessary.

He joined Hatzolah — a Jewish volunteer ambulance service, ready to attend any health emergency in the local community, including a mass casualty event.

When the ABC visited him his two-way radio sat on his desk and he was at the ready to take any call.

“My thought was if something happens I can actively do something,” he says.

“If what happened Sunday happened here we’d be running towards the situation rather than away from it.”

A man with a long beard and glasses in a grey cap and a yellow high vis vest stands on a footpath holding a green bag.

Gaby Silver volunteered for the Hatzolah ambulance service as a way to help protect the Jewish community. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

He’s also joined an arm of the Community Security Group (CSG), a Jewish organisation that has helped guard and protect Jewish events and buildings for more than 20 years.

The CSG and Hatzolah were present at the event that was targeted in Sunday’s massacre.

Gaby helps the CSG support armed private security guards outside his children’s schools.

“We’re just parents who have a small amount of security training to be there as an extra set of eyes,” he says.

A bearded man wears glasses, a skullcap and yellow vest, both with a Hatzolah emblem, sits at a computer beside a red bag.

Members of the Sydney branch of Hatzolah attended the Bondi shootings. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

Armed guards have been stationed outside some Jewish institutions in Sydney and Melbourne for decades.

But that presence has been dramatically increased since October 2023, and again since Sunday.

One Jewish leader estimated that in Melbourne only a handful of schools had armed guards before October 7. Now it’s more than a dozen.

A man in a black cap, orange high vis vest and black pants speaks into a walkie talkie next to a white picket fence.

A security worker guards a Jewish aged care home in Melbourne this week. (ABC News)

Fences have been built around many Melbourne synagogues over the past two years, while some synagogues in Sydney have had emergency bollards installed since Sunday.

Although Gaby wasn’t rostered on a school security shift on Monday he was on high alert after Bondi.

A tall silver menorah with white globes can be seen above black spiked fencing in front of an orange brick building.

Many synagogues have erected fences in response to a rise in antisemitism after the October 7 attacks. (ABC News: Darry Torpy)

As he dropped his 9-year-old daughter off ahead of her school camp, out of the corner of his eye he saw a flicker of movement on a nearby rooftop.

With his heart in his mouth his training kicked in and he was ready to raise the alarm about a potential shooting attack.

But then he realised it was just a labourer.

“It was incredibly, incredibly traumatic at that point in time,” he says as he points out the rooftop to the ABC.

“Whether that’s rational or not is irrelevant. That’s how we as Jewish Australians feel. We’re all feeling that way.”

Two white security cameras are fixed to a pole in front of a brick building with a blue sign saying "Yeshiva College".

Security has been tightened at Jewish schools and synagogues over the past year. (ABC News)

A man with a long beard, glasses and a grey hat in a white collared shirt stares off camera beside an orange brick fence.

Gaby Silver thought he spotted a shooter on a roof outside his daughter’s Jewish school in Melbourne this week. (ABC News)

It had taken a lot just to get his daughter to the school gates.

She was the first of his children to depart on a Chabad camp this week to a regional part of Victoria.

After the Bondi attack police stations in the local area agreed to actively patrol the perimeter of the site to protect the children.

They would also be with private armed guards 24/7.

But still, dropping her off the day after the Bondi attack was terrifying.

“I’m a mess. While I’m not in their vicinity I have a real feeling of helplessness,” he says.

A man with a long grey beard, glasses and a grey cap in a white button up shirt sits on a tram, staring ahead.

Gaby Silver says he feels worried about his children every time they go to school or catch a tram. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

While it was extra hard this week, he feels it every time he lets his children walk to school or hop onto a tram to the city.

But he says his kids can’t live their lives inside, scared of a threat that may never come.

“We live in a great country and we are entitled to go about our lives and enjoy our lives,” Gaby says.

October 7 changes family life for the Silvers

Gaby’s 14-year-old son says the change in his parents since October 7 has been noticeable.

Before the attack his mother wasn’t so strict about if he was alone or when he got home after school.

Now there are rules.

“It’s like a set time, I have to be walking with friends, I have to be with a group” he says.

A photo taken from down low behind a person in a white shirt sitting in a mesh covered chair under trees.

Gaby Silver’s son says he and his friends have been abused while walking in Melbourne. (ABC News)

He been yelled at when he’s by himself too, even when he’s with his friends.

As an observant Jew he must wear a head covering at all times, as well as a ritual undergarment from which distinctive fringes fall down over his pants.

Since Sunday he’s swapped his skullcap for a hoodie and is tucking in the fringes so he doesn’t look Jewish.

“It’s a bit scary to show your identity,” he says.

Read more on the Bondi Beach shooting:Rise in antisemitism in Australia

Data shows antisemitic incidents have been rising in Australia since the Hamas attack on Israel and the resulting war which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.

In December 2024 the Adass Israel Synagogue was firebombed in Melbourne in an attack which Australian officials allege was orchestrated by Iran. 

Buildings and cars have been regularly graffitied and many Jewish people report being abused.

Victoria Police say since October 2023 it’s received more than 454 reports of antisemitism. 

NSW police says up until July it’d received 941 reports.

The Jewish security group CSG recorded 1,045 antisemitic incidents in Australia in 2024, up from 343 in 2018, which mainly included abusive behaviour but also assaults and extreme violence.

The ultimate act of violence occurred on Sunday at Bondi.

A man with a long dark beard wears a grey button up shirt and stands with a hand resting on a bookcase staring at the camera.

Gaby Silver says he never encountered antisemitism in Melbourne before October 7, but it’s now a regular occurrence. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

Gaby says he understands people have strong opinions about the war in Gaza and the calls for a Palestinian state.

He holds strong views as well. But he wants people to engage in dialogue, not a screaming match.

“To take a conflict that is occurring in Israel and use that as a justification to [abuse] or hurt or kill Jews in Australia is a twisted and utterly abominable mindset,” Gaby says.

“It doesn’t gel with what this country represents and what it stands for.”