That was less, however, than the 2,062 incidents recorded a year earlier<\/a>, in the year immediately following the attack, ECAJ noted, although the impact of the attacks on the community remained high.<\/p>\n Following the report, members of the J7 Large Communities\u2019 Task Force Against Antisemitism said the spike reflects a global pattern threatening other Jewish communities around the world.<\/p>\n J7 is a partnership created by the Anti-Defamation League between Jewish organizations from the seven countries with the largest Jewish populations outside of Israel: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition \t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat is happening in Australia is not an exception; it should be a wake-up call to communities worldwide,\u201d said ADL senior vice president for International Affairs Marina Rosenberg in a statement. \u201cAcross North America, Europe and Latin America, Jewish communities are reporting the same pattern of unprecedented harassment, threats and incitement. When synagogues can be firebombed in Melbourne, and Jews threatened and attacked in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Toronto, this is a threat not only to Jewish safety but to democratic stability itself.\u201d<\/p>\n \t J7 leaders convened on Wednesday in Sydney for strategic consultations and to develop coordinated responses to elevated threat levels.<\/p>\n A tidal wave of hate<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s 120,000-strong Jewish community has been among the hardest hit in the world since the October 7 Hamas attack and the subsequent war set off a tidal wave of antisemitism across the globe.<\/p>\n After the community saw a record number of attacks in 2023-2024, an arson attack in December on Melbourne\u2019s Adass Israel Synagogue<\/a> was seen by many as a turning point, and Jews have been frustrated by what they say has been the government\u2019s failure to rein in attacks and violent rhetoric.<\/p>\n Over the past year, Jews in Australia have seen synagogues<\/a>, schools<\/a>\u00a0and homes<\/a> firebombed, two nurses threatening<\/a> to kill Jewish patients in their hospital, and the discovery of a trailer filled with explosives said to have been intended<\/a> to cause a mass-casualty event at a Sydney synagogue.<\/p>\n \t In August, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that Iran was suspected of being behind a pair of 2024 antisemitic arson attacks, calling the actions \u201cdangerous acts of aggression\u201d designed to undermine his country\u2019s social cohesion.<\/p>\n The country\u2019s decision in August to recognize<\/a> a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September has aggravated a growing sense of alienation among the country\u2019s Jewish community and sparked a sharp war of words between Albanese\u2019s government and Israeli officials.<\/p>\n Over the past year, ECAJ tallied 621 cases of antisemitic verbal abuse, representing 38 percent of all incidents. There were more than 350 cases of graffiti, 33 cases of vandalism, and 24 reports of physical assault.<\/p>\n The number of physical assaults dropped by 63% from the previous year, but vandalism increased by 14%, the report showed.\u00a0Incidents were only classified as antisemitic if they met the definition of racist violence developed by Australia\u2019s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.<\/p>\n \t In its report, ECAJ noted a marked increase in graffiti calling to kill Jews as a direct imperative, in contrast to previous messaging that it has seen as an expression of sentiment rather than a call to action.<\/p>\n It observed a dangerous convergence of ideological extremes, noting the \u201cincreasing ideological alignment\u201d between neo-Nazis, the anti-Israel left, and Islamists in their \u201ccommon hatred of Jews\/Zionists.\u201d These groups are \u201cmore active, more emboldened\u201d to undermine any initiative that will counter their hatred, the report said.<\/p>\n Normalized and mainstreamed<\/p>\n Australians now feel that antisemitism has become mainstreamed throughout all aspects of national life, ECAJ said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now at a stage where anti-Jewish racism has left the fringes of society and become\u2026 normalised and allowed to fester and spread, gaining ground at universities, in arts and culture spaces, in the health sector, in the workplace and elsewhere,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n \t \u201cIn such an environment, Jews have legitimate concerns for their physical safety and future in Australia,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, offered a similar prognosis following the report\u2019s publication.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most worrying trend in this year\u2019s report isn\u2019t only the number of incidents \u2014 it\u2019s how quickly they have become part of the background noise of Australian life,\u201d Leibler told The Times of Israel. \u201cWhen Jewish students expect hostility on campus, when synagogues quietly increase security, when parents think twice before sending their children on school excursions, something profound has shifted. Antisemitism thrives when people stop being shocked by it. The challenge now is not just to condemn these incidents but to restore the shared norms that once made this country feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tDemonstrators cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge during a rally calling for sanctions against Israel, on August 3, 2025. (Saeed KHAN \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2024-12-08T130059Z_776014520_MT1SOPAADASS9009_RTRMADP_3_SOPA-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tFlowers and messages of hope and support seen at the Adass Israel Synagogue in the Ripponlea suburb of Melbourne, December 8, 2024, after it was gutted in an arson attack early on December 6, 2024. (Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Gg4qEptaMAImsXi-e1736492926329-640x400.jpeg\")
\n\t\tAntisemitic graffiti daubed on a Sydney synagogue, January 10, 2025 (Social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AFP__20250831__72XL8ZQ__v1__HighRes__AustraliaPalestinianIsraelConflictProtest-e1756627398830-640x40.jpeg\")
\n\t\tDemonstrators take part in an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney\u2019s central business district on August 31, 2025. (Saeed KHAN \/ AFP)<\/p>\n
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