Shule president’s morbid prediction came true

Southern Sydney Synagogue president George Foster has told the Royal Commission that he warned in early 2025 that if nothing was done about rising antisemitism, someone would die.

Leaders of three synagogues testified on Tuesday how their communities have been transformed by fear, describing arson, decades of attacks and a daily reality in which Jewish Australians conceal their identity to stay safe.

Adass Israel board member Benjamin Klein described how his Melbourne community had gone from one whose synagogue doors once had no locks to one preoccupied with security, in the wake of the December 2024 arson attack that destroyed the building.

He said the ultra-Orthodox community of about 300 families revolved around the synagogue. Until the early 2020s there had been no locks on the doors, no guards and no need for ties with police.

Holding back tears, he described the arson – subject to pending criminal charges – as devastating, recounting that his wife could not drive past the ruined site for six months.