Hearing ‘hijacked’ by fringe groups

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip has described how a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism was “hijacked” by fringe Jewish groups, some of whom disputed that terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas were antisemitic.

On Monday, Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers MP Robert Borsak chaired the first hearing in state parliament, alongside Greens MLC Amanda Cohn and MLCs from both Labor and the Liberals.

During the hearing Ossip said that there has been an “unprecedented and shocking rise in antisemitism” over the past 20 months.

“For the first time, the Jewish community has felt unsafe and at risk not because of anything they have done, but because of who they are,” he said.

“The resurgence of antisemitism in mainstream discourse – whether through overt hatred, coded language or veiled as political criticism – acts as a corrosive force within civil society.”