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Amanda says she’s usually a woman who’s never short of words and sometimes has too many.
But she said she’s “still absolutely speechless” after waking up and reading the news earlier this week.
The Jewish Australian — who asked for her last name to be withheld for privacy reasons — said it was “devastating” to see that a Sydney’s south-east and sprayed with antisemitic slogans in the middle of the night, around the corner from Maroubra Synagogue.
The attack was almost more than she could bear, as a member of Sydney’s Jewish community who has endured several similar incidents in recent months, alongside an escalation of since October 2023.
“It was a really bad day, when I saw that, I was bereft,” she told SBS News.
“Where will it end, will it end with someone getting murdered one day?”
Amanda volunteers at the Sydney Jewish Museum, leading tours educating people on antisemitism and connecting them with the stories of Holocaust survivors.
She said, for the most part, people at the museum are curious, and her interactions with the public are positive and supportive.
She hoped antisemitic rhetoric would lessen around the world after a . But she said the Maroubra attack shows that’s not the case.
“Hatred of the Jews is not new but we need to stamp it out because it shows a fracturing of society.”
Antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents are high following the , according to Jewish and Muslim groups.
The attack by and more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to the Israeli government.
Israel’s subsequent bombardment of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has killed more than 47,000 people, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
The Australian Council of Executive Jewry logged 2,062 anti-Jewish incidents across Australia over the period 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024, up from 495 in the previous 12-month period.
The Islamophobia Register it received an average of three reports each week before 7 October last year, which has increased to nearly 18 a week in the aftermath — about a six-fold increase.
‘It’s not easy to be a Jew in Australia’
Amanda said she felt the government had let her community down.
“I feel very disappointed,” she said. “When will this end? Are we safe? Are we not safe?”
She said she worries about her safety “all the time”.
“I have to think, ‘Should I wear this? It’s got Hebrew writing, maybe I shouldn’t wear it to that’. I’m going, ‘Should I wear my Star of David around my neck?’ If so, how quickly can I hide it?”
Amanda said it’s getting to the point where people question whether it’s safe to live in Sydney.
“It’s not easy to be a Jew in Australia. And I never thought I’d say that because I’ve had 31 years of happiness in this country, where I’ve been welcomed and I’ve contributed significantly in various ways. But in the last 15 months, everything’s shifted.”
“We’re at a pivotal point — someone needs to do something; otherwise, we won’t recognise Australia.”
National Cabinet announced on Tuesday that a national database would be established to track antisemitic “crime and other incidents and behaviours”.
A day later, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke rejected criticism from Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel who had accused the federal government of being slow to act on antisemitism.
“The comment that this government is somehow waiting is simply not right,” He told ABC Radio National. “Australia never had an antisemitism envoy; we now have an antisemitism envoy, and I talk and work with Jillian Segal very, very closely.”
‘It should outrage and disturb everyone’
David Ossop, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said the attack in Maroubra should “outrage and disturb all Australians”.
“By targeting a childcare centre, these depraved and cowardly terrorists are issuing another ominous threat against our community and every peace-loving Australian.”
He said Australia was in an antisemitism “crisis” which required a response that matched the seriousness in order to tackle it.
A childcare centre at Maroubra in Sydney was set alight and spray painted with antisemitic graffiti. Source: AAP / Steve Markham
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns jointly condemned the attack in Maroubra, and Minns said the “bastards (responsible) would be rounded up”.
Minns defended his handling of several recent arson attacks, saying extra police officers would be allocated to investigating the incidents.
He said a police strike force targeting antisemitic crimes had made more than 180 arrests and charged at least 10 people since October 2023.
Meanwhile Australian Federal Police are investigating whether “overseas actors or individuals” may have paid local criminals in cryptocurrency to carry out antisemitic attacks inside the country.
A house formerly owned by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin attack a week before the Maroubra incident.
The issue is not just confined to Sydney. Last year, , which police declared a terrorist attack.
‘Now is the time that firm action’
Rabbi Zalman Goldstein from the Maroubra Synagogue said his community would hold a special service on Tuesday evening to greet the dark events with “light, peace and love”.
“I’m saddened this can happen in Maroubra, a very peaceful, very beautiful place where people move to with their young families,” he told the Australian Associated Press.
“But Jewish people are not scared, we are very resilient … we’ve been through things like this in much worse ways and we hope we can be a message for other minority groups to stay strong.”
Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins is a senior rabbi at the Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. He said people in the community come to him to discuss antisemitism “nonstop”.
“It’s the major issue of the day.”
He said some people who are either survivors of the Holocaust or their descendants can be traumatised by antisemitic attacks in Australia.
“I say to them that this is very, very different from Germany of the 1930s and this is not state-sanctioned violence,” he said.
“And yet, at the same time, this certainly isn’t the Australia they came to for safe refuge. Their lack of sense of safety is well-founded, sadly.”
Kamins said antisemitism isn’t reflective of the broader Australian society.
“It certainly is not reflective of the general population, notwithstanding that now is the time that firm action and clearer policies have to be created because it’s gotten out of hand.
“People would expect all levels of government to be working together on this, to not make it a political gotcha thing, but rather to work together at all levels, federal, state, and local, to come up with measures for prevention and education.”
He said the synagogue has been heartened by the response of neighbours who have been equally appalled and devastated about what’s happened in the area.
