{"id":307264,"date":"2026-02-24T06:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/307264\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T06:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:32:08","slug":"full-details-of-bondi-attack-wont-be-heard-by-royal-commission-inquiry-head-says-at-first-public-hearing-royal-commission-on-antisemitism-and-social-cohesion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/307264\/","title":{"rendered":"Full details of Bondi attack won\u2019t be heard by royal commission, inquiry head says at first public hearing | Royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The royal commission into antisemitism in Australia will not examine key parts of how the Bondi beach terror attack<\/a> unfolded because of ongoing criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n

The first public hearing of the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion <\/a>was held in Sydney on Tuesday, 10 weeks after 15 people were killed and 40 injured at the 14 December Hanukah event.<\/p>\n

In her opening statement, the commissioner, Virginia Bell, said the scope of the inquiry would be limited to avoid prejudicing criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne might expect that a royal commission set up to inquire into an attack would lead evidence of it and of the heroism of those who sought to confront the shooters and of those who ran towards the gunfire to offer medical assistance to the wounded,\u201d the former high court justice said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn individual has been charged with a terrorism offence and with 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of attempted murder arising out of the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trial of that individual will be the occasion to lead evidence of the attack. This commission must do its work without risking any prejudice to that criminal proceeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she would meet the families of the deceased later this week \u201cin less formal surroundings\u201d to explain more fully the limitations on the scope of the commission.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

But she said building social cohesion was likely to take years, despite being required to deliver her final report by the first anniversary of the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cExamining the ways in which we might strengthen social cohesion in Australia could well be the work of years, not months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne small part of coming to terms with the events of that evening will be the work of this commission. I regard the delivery of my report on or before the first anniversary as a matter of critical importance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said the inquiry would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s working definition of antisemitism, as a \u201ccertain perception of Jews which may be expressed as a hatred towards Jews\u201d. She said it included antisemitism directed towards Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and their property, and towards Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.<\/p>\n

But she also said: \u201cCriticism of the policies that may be pursued by the government of Israel from time to time is not, of itself, antisemitic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission will identify antisemitic conduct and its drivers in Australian society, examine how law enforcement and security agencies were tackling antisemitic conduct and protecting the Jewish community and look at the circumstances leading up to the attack.<\/p>\n

Bell encouraged members of the public to make submissions and said she was \u201cinterested in hearing from Jewish Australians who\u2019ve experienced antisemitism, whether at school or at university or in the workplace or elsewhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said while antisemitism may be the oldest religious and ethnic prejudice, other religions and ethnicities were also subject to prejudice in Australia. As such, the inquiry would include religious faiths, ethnicities and cultures generally.<\/p>\n

\u201cNonetheless, against the background of the massacre of innocent people who appear to have been targeted simply because they were Jewish, I trust everyone will appreciate why the focus of this commission will be on tackling antisemitism as a starting point in strengthening our bonds of social cohesion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

An intelligence and security review led by the former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Dennis Richardson, has also been folded into the inquiry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Richard Lancaster, the senior counsel assisting the commission, described the attack in December as a \u201ctruly horrifying event\u201d.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged the immense trauma and deep sadness the massacre had caused to Jewish Australians \u2013 as well as members of the Bondi community, people visiting for a meal or a swim that evening and \u201cthose who bravely rushed to help\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said social cohesion was a \u201cconsensus that a diverse, multicultural society can subsist and thrive only by mutual acceptance of our respective democratic freedoms exercised according to law. Social cohesion begins with empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, told reporters the commission was \u201chugely important\u201d and that it was the \u201cNSW government\u2019s responsibility to not just listen to the evidence and understand the inquiry, but continue to take action\u201d.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cWe\u2019ve drawn \u2013 and we make no apologies for this \u2013 a link between hate speech and violent actions. Dangerous thoughts lead to dangerous words, then actions, and we\u2019ve seen, in the end, an escalation of that violence in our community in the state of NSW.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The royal commission into antisemitism in Australia will not examine key parts of how the Bondi beach terror…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-307264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}