AUSTRALIA
JANUARY
- As the Israel-Hamas war reaches its 100-day mark, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry signals legal action against several Sydney Muslim clerics who have made hateful comments about Jews.
- Federal laws introduced by the Albanese government to ban Nazi salutes and public displays of hate symbols come into effect.
- Furore gathers around Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s decision not to visit Israel’s stricken south, scene of the barbaric Hamas attacks. Wong’s visit to Israel is the first by a senior Australian official, more than three months after the October 7 attacks, However, the FM does meet with some of those whose lives were changed forever by the attacks.
- Jewish leaders express disgust at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and call for its dismantling, after reports that 12 of its staff connived in the October 7 attacks, and that UNRWA has wider links to Hamas.
- The Greens call for Magnitsky-style sanctions on PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet.
FEBRUARY
- ECAJ co-CEO Alex Ryvchin declares, “We know what we heard,” after NSW Police say they found no evidence “gas the Jews” was chanted in videos circulating online of the infamous October 9 anti-Israel rally at the Sydney Opera House.
- Victoria Police announce the November arson attack on a Caulfield burger shop was not a hate crime after Jews were blamed, targeted and attacked for it. The police statement followed the arrest of two men.
- A video is released showing NSW state Greens MP Jenny Leong saying Jewish supporters of Israel use their “tentacles” to “influence power”. The damning footage appears in the same week that federal Greens MPs attack Israel in the House and Senate.
- The Greens fail to win support in federal Parliament for a motion condemning Israel after leader Adam Bandt speaks of the “invasion of Gaza”.
MARCH
- With 19 female hostages – some deceased – remaining in Gaza, social media campaigns draw attention to their plight on the approach of International Women’s Day. A UN report finds “clear and convincing information” that hostages held in Gaza are subjected to sexual violence. A large demonstration in support of the women takes place outside Melbourne Town Hall.
- The Jewish Community Council of Victoria suspends relations with the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) and calls for government funding to the Islamic roof body to be frozen. The pause in ties follows “malicious and outrageous” remarks by the ICV, including its president Adel Salman trying to justify the October 7 pogrom.
- Political pressure builds within the ALP for the government to rescind its suspension of $6 million in UNRWA funding – eventually leading to the freeze being lifted, with Wong claiming UNRWA “is not a terrorist organisation”.
- Tel Aviv University (TAU) protests to the University of Sydney after TAU academic Sharon Ziv-Kafri and TAU vice-president Milette Shamir are trapped in a hall amid anti-Israel demonstrations.
APRIL
- Israel apologises for a tragic incident in which its forces kill seven international aid workers in Gaza, including Australian Zomi Frankcom. However, Wong announces the appointment of Australian investigator Mark Binskin to probe the killings. (Binskin’s report later concurs with the IDF’s findings) but Wong continues to press for criminal charges.
- In a lecture at ANU’s National Security College, Wong lays out the broad groundwork for a potential Australian recognition of a Palestinian state, drawing dismayed reactions from Jewish leaders and severe criticism from political opponents.
- Politicians and Jewish leaders condemn Iran’s unprecedented rocket attack on Israel.
- A Jewish woman is injured and six shoppers are dead after a knifing spree at the Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction. The killer is later named as 40-year-old Joel Cauchi of Queensland, but not before innocent Jewish man Benjamin Cohen is wrongly accused in media of being the attacker.
- For more than 130 Israeli hostages, it’s 200 days since they were abducted to Gaza by Hamas – and at home, a tribute wall to the hostages is defaced multiple times.
MAY
- Jewish leaders voice their emphatic opposition to Australia’s vote at the UN General Assembly supporting an elevation in the status of the Palestinians as a precursor to statehood. Nine countries voted against and 25 abstained.
- With Australian universities becoming epicentres of pro-Palestinian unrest, Mark Scott, vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, and Professor Duncan Maskell, his counterpart at the University of Melbourne, face criticism over their handling of “encampments” on their campuses. USYD pledges to disclose its defence and security-related research activities and form a working group to examine its investments in the defence and security industries, while Melbourne University undertakes to widen disclosure of its Israel relationships.
- Some students of Mount Scopus Memorial College in Melbourne stay home after “Jew die” is daubed on an external wall of its Burwood campus.
- Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan controversially asks for the traditional toast to Israel to be removed from the itinerary of this year’s state Parliamentary reception for Yom Ha’atzmaut.
JUNE
- Jews in Melbourne and Sydney launch spontaneous public celebrations at news that Israeli hostage Noa Argamani, abducted from the Nova music festival in Israel’s south on October 7, has been rescued in a daring Israeli raid in Gaza, after 245 days in captivity. Also freed by the commandos are hostages Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv.
- Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism, a landmark Sky News Australia documentary made and hosted by Josh Frydenberg, gets its first national public screening at Melbourne’s Temple Beth Israel. At a panel afterwards, the former federal treasurer says Australia faces “a comprehensive failure of leadership” in combating anti-Jewish hatred.
- ”Appalled and deeply concerned” is how six major Jewish organisations describe their reaction to news that USYD has struck a deal with the Sydney University Muslim Students Association to fully disclose research agreements (including those with Israeli institutions).
JULY
- The Greens refuse to support a July 1 motion in Parliament by independent Senator Jacqui Lambie condemning the defacing of the Australian War Memorial with pro-Palestinian graffiti.
- Amid spiralling incidents of Jew hatred in Australia, Jillian Segal, immediate past president of ECAJ, is formally appointed as Australia’s first antisemitism envoy, at an event at the Sydney Jewish Museum attended by PM Anthony Albanese.
- Jewish leaders condemn the hanging of a banner with the slogan “Sanction Israel” across the entrance of Sydney’s The Great Synagogue by pro-Palestinian activists as “pure, unadulterated antisemitism”.
AUGUST
- Sisters Jessica and Noemie Fox wow the nation with gold medal wins at the Paris Olympics. Jessica wins two gold medals in the women’s single kayak and single canoe events and Noemie wins a gold medal in the women’s kayak cross final. Jessica, an Australian team flagbearer, is later elected to the IOC Athletics Commission. Jemima Montag powers up from fifth position to win a bronze medal in the women’s 20km race walk and later scores a second bronze in the inaugural mixed marathon race walk relay with teammate Rhydian Cowley.
- The community mourns the passing of Sydneysider Olga Horak, a Holocaust survivor, author and artist – and prolific volunteer at the Sydney Jewish Museum.
SEPTEMBER
- Jewish communities in Sydney and Melbourne hold vigils to mourn the murders of six Hamas hostages whose remains were found in a tunnel beneath Rafah.
- Former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy wows audiences on his tour of Australia for JNF.
- Jewish students demand USYD vice-chancellor Mark Scott resign for failing to tackle antisemitism on his campus.
- Communal leaders slam Australia’s decision to abstain from the UN General Assembly vote on a one-sided resolution demanding Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. On September 27, Wong follows up with a speech to the General Assembly calling for a “clear timeline” to recognise a Palestinian state outside of a negotiated peace process.
OCTOBER
- Jewish Australians attend events of solidarity and solemn reflection on the first anniversary of the October 7 massacres, with prayers for the release of the hostages. In Melbourne, a Walk of Light with lanterns marks the day. In Sydney, a park gathering provides a night of grieving, healing and hope. In Canberra, a Never Again is Now rally sees former political opponents Tony Abbott and Mike Kelly standing shoulder-to-shoulder in support of the Jewish community.
- Coalition Leader Peter Dutton refuses to support Albanese’s Parliamentary motion on the October 7, 2023, attacks because it does not focus specifically on the 1200 Israelis killed that day and calls for ceasefires. Earlier, Parliament failed to come up with a bipartisan motion to commemorate the first anniversary. The Greens mark the anniversary with accusations from leader Bandt that Netanyahu was committing “genocide”.
- In a security alert, DFAT warns Australians not to travel to Israel.
- Albanese rules out a deal with the Greens if Labor needs to form a minority government after next year’s elections.
NOVEMBER
- Wong shocks Jewish Australians with an announcement that former MK Ayelet Shaked has been refused a visa to visit Australia. Interviewed by The AJN, Shaked describes the ban as “a brutal political act”.
- A pro-Palestine group cancels plans to stage a disruption in front of Caulfield Shule but some activists show up anyway. Flanked by police, an exuberant crowd of more than 200 Jews chorus “Go home!” The target, a forum to have been addressed by Shaked, was relocated to another shule.
- The SBS Hebrew radio program begins its third month of recess after the resignation of the show’s producer Amit Rehak, who worked for SBS for 12 years. Rehak says he faced politically motivated restrictions from SBS on content that was supportive of Israel.
- Acclaimed journalist and former Age editor Michael Gawenda tells a community forum commemorating Kristallnacht that “I can’t get published in The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald” and that The Age would never again appoint an editor “who supports the State of Israel”.
- Sibling kayakers Jessica and Noemie Fox win the prestigious Don Award – named for Aussie cricketing legend Sir Donald Bradman – at the 2024 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Awards.
DECEMBER
- Australia changes its position to join 156 other countries supporting a UN resolution demanding “Israel bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian territories as soon as possible”. The resolution, passed by UNGA, also calls for an end to all new settlement activities.
- The annual ECAJ antisemitism report reveals alarming new figures, with 2062 incidents reported between October 2023 and September 2024, a steep increase on the previous year’s 495 incidents.
- The Victorian Labor government decides not to renew a 2022 Memorandum of Understanding with Israel’s Defence Ministry.
- Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announces new laws prohibiting doxxing – after hundreds of Australian Jewish creatives had their private details published online this year.
- An arson attack torches the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, with Torah scrolls charred and two people injured. The firebombing triggers the Albanese government to announce Operation Avalite, a taskforce to probe the attack. The opposition announces a comprehensive strategy to combat antisemitism and safeguard Australians.
- A car is burned and antisemitic slogans are daubed on walls in Woollahra, after the Sydney suburb, home to many Jews, was first attacked in November.
- Netanyahu launches a broadside against the Albanese government, linking its Israel policy to explosive levels of antisemitism in Australia.
WORLD
JANUARY
- Kibbutz Be’eri announces that hostages Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky were killed in Gaza and their bodies are being held by Hamas.
FEBRUARY
- US President Joe Biden issues sanctions against four Israelis convicted, indicted or suspected of carrying out violent attacks against Palestinian residents of the West Bank.
MARCH
- The UN’s envoy on sex crimes finds “clear and convincing” evidence that hostages taken by Hamas to Gaza on October 7 were raped while being held in Gaza and that some are still subject to this kind of abuse.
APRIL
- Iran threatens to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for an alleged Israeli airstrike on its consulate in Damascus.
MAY
- In a moment of light amongst the darkness of war and antisemitism, Israel’s Eurovision finalist Eden Golan holds the Israeli flag proudly aloft at the event, defying hostility from the contest’s fans and from some other entrants.
JUNE
- Accusing Netanyahu of preventing Israel from achieving “true victory” in its war against Hamas, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz announces his party’s long-anticipated withdrawal from the government.
JULY
- Houthi terrorists launch a drone strike on Tel Aviv.
- Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh is eliminated in Tehran, shortly after senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr dies after being targeted in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut.
AUGUST
- Hamas names Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, as the new head of the terror organisation’s “political bureau”, replacing Ismail Haniyeh who died in a bomb blast
in July. - Hundreds gather in New York’s Central Park to mark the fifth birthday of Ariel Bibas, who has been held captive in Gaza by Hamas, along with his parents Shiri and Yarden and baby brother Kfir, since October 7. A few days later, Jews worldwide observe a solemn milestone – 300 days in captivity for the hostages.
- US reporter Evan Gershkovich is freed from Russia in a multiple prisoner swap.
- The IDF recovers the bodies of six Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7. They were Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51 and Avraham Munder, 78. Days later, Bedouin hostage Farhan al-Qadi, 52, is rescued from a Gaza tunnel by the IDF. But before the end of the month, six more dead hostages are found – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Carmel Gat, 40, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Alexander Lobanov, 33, Almog Sarusi, 27 and Ori Danino, 25.
SEPTEMBER
- Israel eliminates Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah in a powerful series of air strikes – some days after large numbers of walkie-talkies and pagers used by Hezbollah explode during use.
OCTOBER
- Iran launches its second barrage of missiles on Israel this year. After some delay, Israel responds with a tactical strike on Iranian military targets.
- The death toll at the top echelon of Israel’s sworn enemies rises again – with the elimination of Hamas leader Sinwar in an IDF drone strike. Sinwar was the architect of the October 7, 2023 pogrom.
NOVEMBER
- Netanyahu fires Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over differences in how to pursue the war, including Gallant’s support for drafting Charedim.
- Jews are divided over the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, providing him with a second, non-consecutive term. The majority of American Jews view his return with trepidation, but support for the mercurial leader in Israel and in some parts of the Diaspora is enthusiastic, amid hopes he can fulfil his promise to quickly bring peace to Israel and its neighbours.
- On the anniversary of Kristallnacht, anti-Jewish hatred chokes Europe once again, with violent attacks on Jews by rioters after a soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and local club Ajax in Amsterdam.
- The 400-day mark of the hostages’ ordeal is reached without any signs the 101 still missing will quickly be released.
- Israel and Hezbollah reach a ceasefire brokered by the US and France. Israel announces it has fulfilled its goals to safeguard its northern border but stands ready to repel any violations by Hezbollah.
DECEMBER
- Adi Alexander, father of Hamas hostage Edan Alexander, who appeared in a propaganda video released by the terror group, calls on Biden, Trump and Netanyahu to work together to reach a deal to release the 101 hostages. In a warning to Hamas, President-elect Trump posts “there will be all hell to pay” if the hostages aren’t released by the date of his inauguration on January 20.
- IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi indicates he intends to resign once the military completes its investigations into Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
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