The Royal Commission stones left unturned
The inquiry must examine government failures, not simply recommend more guards and higher fences.
I was nine years old when I first saw a shotgun.
It was December 23, 1982. The Israeli Consulate in Sydney and Hakoah Club in Bondi had been bombed. That evening, walking with my father to synagogue near our Bondi home, I saw a security guard beside a car, its boot open and a shotgun resting inside.
What I eventually understood was that Australian Jews were considered targets, and armed guards outside synagogues had become part of Jewish life in Australia.
Forty-three years later, on December 14, 2025, Jews celebrating Chanukah at Bondi Beach were targeted by Islamic extremists reportedly radicalised in Western Sydney. Fifteen people were murdered.
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was established in the aftermath. Its task should be straightforward: determine how Australia reached the point where Australian Jews could be massacred at a public religious celebration by terrorists radicalised here, what failed, and how recurrence can be prevented.
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