Hearings to be held next month as community encourages submissions

The Royal Commission “is a privileged and critical opportunity for the community to be heard,” Sabina Kleitman told The AJN this week.

With the deadline for submissions at the end of May, members of the Jewish community are being encouraged to take part and tell their stories.

The Royal Commission will hold its first hearing block in Sydney from Monday, May 4 to Friday, May 15, it was announced on Wednesday.

The hearings will focus on defining antisemitism, its historical and contemporary manifestations, lived experiences of Jewish Australians, and metrics for assessing its prevalence in institutions and society.

Commissioner Virginia Bell said it was vital for the Royal Commission to hear directly from Australians who had experienced antisemitism first-hand. “I would like to thank those people who have already made a submission to the Royal Commission and who have been prepared to share their story with us,” Bell said.

The Royal Commission was called after weeks of campaigning following the Bondi Beach massacre last December.

Kleitman, whose father Alex Kleytman was murdered while shielding his wife from the bullets at Bondi, said his death “is a loss my family will carry forever”.

“But alongside grief, there are responsibilities to lovingly carry his memories and to ensure that what happened is fully, effectively and honestly examined, so that lessons can be learned and Australian lives protected in the future,” she said.

“I encourage anyone with information, concerns, or experiences to submit. I hope this will help to drive meaningful changes to ensure safety and security for Jewish people and all Australians.”

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) head of Sydney office Arsen Ostrovsky survived the Bondi shooting.

“The Commission’s findings and recommendations will ultimately depend on the evidence before it, and that evidence is made up of real stories from real people,” he said.

“The more members of the community who come forward and share their lived experiences of antisemitism – in their own words – the clearer the picture will be of how antisemitism has pervaded Jewish life in Australia today, and what must be done to address it.”

Labor Member for Macnamara Josh Burns called the Royal Commission a “once in a generation opportunity to make things better”.

“It’s essential we all participate,” he told The AJN.

Liberal Member for Berowra Julian Leeser echoed those sentiments.

“The Royal Commission is our best chance to get authorities to deal properly with Australia’s antisemitism crisis,” he said.

“The Commission can only be as good as the evidence our community presents it. It is the duty of every member of the Jewish community, who wants to see the long term survival of our community in this country, to make a submission.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion urged “anyone who has experienced or witnessed antisemitism to have their say”.

“The Royal Commission is a unique opportunity for every one of us to share our stories so that the scourge of antisemitism that led to Bondi – shules torched, schools vandalised, students intimidated and CBDs echoing to hate chants – can be tackled head on,” he said.

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said “every submission strengthens the evidentiary base that will shape policy for years to come”.

“There’s a tendency to assume someone else will tell the story, but the Commission’s findings will only be as strong as the evidence before it,” he said.

Writing in last week’s AJN, National Council of Jewish Women Australia president Lynda Ben Menashe said elevating the voices of Jewish Australian women “is massively important” to counter lies and libels.

“The Royal Commission gives us a platform to do so,” she said.

Dor Foundation CEO Tahli Blicblau said the Royal Commission “is the opportunity, not the outcome”.

“It can only find what the evidence presents, and our stories are an important part of that evidence,” she said.

“We have the power to paint a picture that will help Australia see what it means to be Jewish here and now. No experience is too small to be part of that picture.”

Help with your submission

ECAJ resources
The ECAJ has collated a range of useful resources on its website.
Visit: ecaj.org.au

Share your story
Australia’s main representative organisations have joined together to create “Share Your Story”, an online resource with explainers, FAQs, contacts for support, and more.
Visit: shareyourstory.org.au

Webinar
A NCJWA-Tanck-JCLJ Royal Commission Webinar on Thursday, April 23 will cover how Royal Commissions work, why you should make a submission, the importance of women’s voices and some of the key legal issues.
Info/register: ncjwa.org.au/rc

Submission workshops
NCJWA together with its state Sections in NSW, Vic, Qld and WA, are offering submission writing workshops between April 16 and 26 in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, with wellbeing, legal, and writing support experts facilitating.
Dates/register: ncjwa.org.au/rc

Royal Commission website
asc.royalcommission.gov.au