The rabbi offered a prayer for his youngest grandson, just two months old when his father died.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy prayer is that when my grandson is old enough to understand what happened to his father, he will also be able to understand what Australia chose to do about it. And that he will be proud of the choice we made.\u201d<\/p>\n
These are some of the key moments from the royal commission\u2019s four months of public hearings.<\/p>\n
Special adviser \u2018surplus to requirements\u2019<\/p>\n
The first challenge to the commission came at its inception: Australia\u2019s former spy chief Dennis Richardson resigning his post<\/a> before any hearings had been held.<\/p>\n Richardson \u2013 former head of Asio and ambassador to the US \u2013 had initially been named to lead an inquiry into intelligence and policing in the lead-up <\/a> to the terror attack at Bondi.<\/p>\n However after the government relented to calls for a royal commission into the attack<\/a> and the broader issue of antisemitism, Richardson\u2019s review was folded into the commission, led by former high court judge Virginia Bell.<\/p>\n While he was made special adviser to the inquiry, he said he felt \u201cthere wasn\u2019t enough discussion right at the beginning about the precise way things would work. And ultimately \u2026 I was surplus to requirements\u201d.<\/p>\n Richardson\u2019s role commanded a daily rate of up to $5,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was being way overpaid for what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n But Richardson left emphasising the royal commission\u2019s work would be valuable and strongly praised Bell\u2019s stewardship.<\/p>\n Interim report calls for greater coordination<\/p>\n In April, before any public hearings had been held, Bell handed down an interim report<\/a>, finding that Sydney\u2019s Jewish community had told police of a \u201chigh\u201d threat of an attack at the Chanukah by the Sea festival at Bondi, but that NSW police appeared not to have completed a comprehensive risk assessment for the event.<\/p>\n The interim report found no gap in existing laws that could have prevented the shooting, but it did call for greater coordination of policing at Jewish festivals and events.<\/p>\n Quick GuideRecommendations from the interim reportShow<\/p>\n Recommendation 1<\/p>\n The procedures adopted by NSW Police in respect of Operation Jewish High Holy Days should apply to other high risk Jewish festivals and events, particularly those that have a public facing element.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendation 2 <\/p>\n Having regard to the significance of the role of the Commonwealth Counter-Terrorism Coordinator in providing counter-terrorism leadership, the Commission recommends consideration be given to making the Counter-Terrorism Coordinator\u2019s role full-time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendation 3 <\/p>\n If the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC) is to be used again as a crisis committee, the ANZCTC should be included in the Australian Government Crisis Management Framework so its role is clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendation 4 <\/p>\n The Counter-Terrorism Handbook should be updated promptly and then at least every three years in coordination with updates to the Counter-Terrorism Plan and the ANZCTC triennial review.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendation 5 <\/p>\n The ANZCTC should provide direct advice in the form of a written and\/or oral briefing, at least annually, to National Cabinet (including, as appropriate, advice on ANZCTC activities, the use of the ANZCTC Special Fund, and national counter-terrorism challenges and priorities).\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendation 6<\/p>\n The ANZCTC should commission a review of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Teams, with a report to be submitted to Police Commissioners and the Director-General of Security within three months of commencement. The review should include consideration of leadership structures, team integration, systems access and information sharing arrangements. The review should place particular focus on the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team-NSW, elements of which should be for reporting specifically to the NSW Police Commissioner, the AFP Commissioner and the Director-General of Security.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendation 7 <\/p>\n The Australian Government should consider whether National Security Committee ministers, including the Prime Minister, should participate in a counter-terrorism exercise, along with all National Cabinet members, within nine months of each federal election.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendations 8-12 <\/p>\n These recommendations are contained in the confidential Interim Report.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendation 13 <\/p>\n The Commonwealth and states and territories should prioritise efforts to finalise and implement an updated and nationally consistent National Firearms Agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Recommendation 14 <\/p>\n The Commonwealth, states and territories should prioritise efforts to implement the proposed National Gun Buyback Scheme.<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n The report also warned that the war being waged against Iran by the United States and Israel was \u201clikely to have increased the risk of attacks directed at the Australian Jewish community\u201d.<\/p>\n Bondi victims share their anguish<\/p>\n Some of the most powerful evidence of the commission has come from survivors of the Bondi terror attack, and family members of those killed.<\/p>\n Sheina Gutnick \u2013 whose father, Reuven Morrison, was killed at Bondi after throwing bricks at the gunmen as they fired \u2013 told the commission she had \u201creceived and seen hundreds of comments \u2026 that I should have been killed in the Bondi attack, calls to kill Israelis, [and] comments celebrating violence against Jews\u201d.<\/p>\n She said there had been a \u201cmassive shift\u201d after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, and the subsequent Israeli military offensive.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom that point onwards I felt as though antisemitism was being allowed to come into the open,\u201d Gutnick said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was completely unprecedented. All of a sudden it was socially, morally acceptable for antisemitic comments to be made in public.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheina Gutnick, whose father, Reuven Morrison, was killed in the Bondi attack, gave evidence that she had seen comments \u2018celebrating violence against Jews\u2019. Photograph: Dean Lewins\/AP<\/p>\n Bondi attack survivor Arsen Ostrovsky said when images of his injuries in the attack were circulated online, \u201cthere were messages of solidarity<\/a>, but there was almost immediately an influx of hate, of abuse, of vilification, of AI manipulation\u201d.<\/p>\n Voices heard and not heard<\/p>\n The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (Apan) was initially refused leave to appear<\/a> before the commission in Hearing Block 2, told it did not have \u201ca direct and substantial interest in the scope of the hearing\u201d. Apan was granted leave at a subsequent hearing block, during which time its questioning was criticised by some in the Jewish community, but defended by the commission.<\/p>\n Counsel for Apan, Ragni Mathur SC, questioned the Jewish Board of Deputies president, David Ossip<\/a>, about the timeline of Israel\u2019s response to Hamas\u2019s 7 October 2023 attack in the context of a protest held at the Sydney Opera House two days later.<\/p>\n Alex Ryvchin, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry\u2019s co-chief executive, told The Australian it was \u201cdeeply concerning that these groups predictably used the opportunity to hijack an examination of lethal antisemitism for their clickbait theatrics and gratuitous slurs against Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n But Bell said that Mathur \u201cdid not hijack this Royal Commission<\/a>\u201d, directly refuting the language of critics.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cCounsel appearing for groups at this Royal Commission should no more be the subject of Islamophobic or other attacks than members of the Jewish community who have been subjected to antisemitic attacks after giving evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n The issue over Apan\u2019s leave to appear highlighted a corollary to the evidence presented before the commission: that of the voices not heard, those not called to give evidence in public, given the strict time constraints on the inquiry.<\/p>\n Commissioner Virginia Bell refuted the language of critics who had claimed the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network\u2019s representatives had \u2018hijacked\u2019 the royal commission. Photograph: Hollie Adams\/Reuters<\/p>\n More than 20,000 submissions have been received by the commission. It has heard from just over 300 witnesses at public hearings in Sydney and Melbourne across four months.<\/p>\n Jewish identity and the state of Israel<\/p>\n Another consistent theme over the course of the nine blocks of public hearings has been the conflation of Jewish identity with the state of Israel.<\/p>\n Concern came from across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n The government\u2019s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, told the royal commission the \u201cfastest-growing\u201d form of antisemitism was \u201cthose who just conflate dissatisfaction with the legitimacy of the State of Israel or the actions of the government of the State of Israel with the Jewish people\u201d.<\/p>\n In its submission, the Jewish Council of Australia<\/a> said one of the key drivers of antisemitism was \u201cthe aggressive actions of the State of Israel and conflation of Jewish identity with Israel \u2013 a conflation that the State of Israel itself has long cultivated and which causes direct harm to Jewish people<\/a> worldwide when they are blamed for Israel\u2019s actions\u201d.<\/p>\n Vic Alhadeff, former chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, told the commission: \u201cJewish Australians have no agency in what the Israel Defense Force does, or indeed what the Israeli government does. And yet so much of the manifestation of antisemitic incidents and attacks is interlaced with, and references, what is taking place on the other side of the world. We are not responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n Contested definitions<\/p>\n The letters patent for the royal commission<\/a> notes the Australian government has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. The definition is contested for the illustrative examples that accompany the core definition, which some say conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.<\/p>\n The definition is not universally accepted, and its enforceable application has been rejected by its lead drafter<\/a>, Kenneth Stern, who argued the definition was being \u201cweaponised\u201d as \u201can attack on academic freedom and free speech\u201d.<\/p>\n The ABC and SBS both declined<\/a> to adopt the definition this year.<\/p>\n Jillian Segal told the commission there was a \u201ccommon and pervasive perception\u201d in the Jewish community that the ABC and SBS \u201clacked balance\u201d in their coverage of the Middle East. She proposed a new \u201coversight\u201d committee to vet their coverage. This was rejected by both public broadcasters.<\/p>\n The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network said in its submission: \u201cThe definition of antisemitism is distorted and weaponised in attempts to silence those who criticise Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n The royal commission heard significant evidence of antisemitism<\/a> on Australian university campuses, including the occupation of a Jewish professor\u2019s office<\/a>.<\/p>\n Universities Australia<\/a> last year adopted its own sector-wide definition of antisemitism, which stated that criticism of the Israeli government was not necessarily antisemitic but could be if it was grounded in \u201charmful tropes, stereotypes or assumptions\u201d.<\/p>\n Progress and setbacks<\/p>\n The commission heard from community groups about progress on work promoting social cohesion, but also setbacks.<\/p>\n Rabbi Zalman Kastel told the commission about the work of educational not-for-profit organisation Together for Humanity in schools across Australia. He gave the example<\/a> of a recent school presentation alongside Muslim and Christian educators, \u201cdemonstrating a genuine concern for the wellbeing and experiences of all communities affected by prejudice\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother small step towards furthering our mission of strengthening social cohesion and affirming our shared humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n But Sandy Kouroupidis from the Faith Communities Council of Victoria said its work to promote harmony between different faith groups had become far more difficult following the 2023 Hamas attacks, the subsequent war in Gaza, and the Bondi massacre.<\/p>\n Interaction between the Muslim and Jewish communities has stopped altogether, Kouroupidis said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been very, very challenging to get those two communities in the same room.\u201d<\/p>\n Jewish people had stopped attending interfaith events, and schools stopped taking part in visits to Muslim and Christian institutes, Kouroupidis said.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the Jewish schools simply don\u2019t feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2998.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jillian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787785839_19_1920.jpg\")
Jillian Segal wants \u2018independent group\u2019 to examine ABC\u2019s Israel coverage \u2013 video<\/p>\n