Advocacy

The real drivers of racism and antisemitism in Australia

Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion · 29 May 2026

Antisemitism is a form of racism, and it shares racism’s drivers: economic inequality and housing stress, far-right and religious extremism, polarisation fuelled by social media and politicians, segregation, and foreign interference. It also has a specific driver: the conflation of Israel and Zionism with Jewish identity, which holds Jewish Australians responsible for the conduct of a foreign state. The submission reviews the criminological, legal and social-science evidence that punitive hate-speech laws and the banning of organisations are ineffective or counterproductive, while education and contact between communities reliably reduce prejudice. It makes five recommendations: implement the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework; publicly distinguish Israel and Zionism from Jewish identity; recognise inequality and housing as drivers of racism; hold media companies and parliamentarians, rather than ordinary citizens, to higher standards; and be cautious about laws that restrict political protest.

Defining antisemitism: a critique of the IHRA working definition

Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion · 2 May 2026

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition is two vague sentences, and leading jurists, including Hugh Tomlinson KC and Geoffrey Robertson KC, have concluded it does not work as a definition. In practice its eleven examples, seven of which concern Israel, are applied as if they were the definition, which draws political speech about Israel and Zionism into the category of antisemitism. The submission shows that the Australian Government adopted only the two-sentence definition, while the Special Envoy promotes the full document across all of society, and it documents cases overseas where the definition was used to cancel events and discipline academics. It recommends that governments rescind the definition and use the test already in the Racial Discrimination Act, whether an act was done because the target is Jewish, together with a single consolidated anti-discrimination law and a federal Human Rights Act.

Fear, antisemitism and social cohesion

Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion · 5 May 2026

Starting from the reality of antisemitism and our condemnation of the Bondi attack, this submission examines how fear is cultivated and maintained within Jewish communities: through annual incident reports that count political expression about Israel as antisemitic incidents, through communal media, and through education and youth movements. It argues that this amplification directs attention and resources towards pro-Palestinian advocacy and away from the real sources of lethal antisemitic violence, such as far-right and online radicalisation, and that it is used to police dissent inside the community. It asks the Commission to separate incidents of violence and direct threat from political expression when assessing incident data, to hear from Jewish Australians who have been sanctioned by their community for criticising Israel, and to recommend independent research into antisemitism that does not rely on advocacy organisations.

Germany case study: repressive laws fail to combat antisemitism

Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion · 29 May 2026

Germany has built the most extensive state apparatus against antisemitism of any Western democracy, including adoption of the IHRA definition, parliamentary resolutions against the BDS movement, funding conditions tied to Israel, and citizenship questions about Israel’s right to exist. Over the same period, recorded antisemitic incidents reached their highest levels since the Second World War and the far-right AfD surged. The submission draws the parallel with the Weimar Republic, whose hate-speech laws were enforced against the Nazis and still failed to stop them, and notes the similarities between the German model and the plan proposed by Australia’s Special Envoy. It urges the Commission not to recommend laws that restrict political speech, and to invest instead in education, community initiatives and dialogue between communities.

Discriminatory antisemitism guidance works against social cohesion

Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion · 30 May 2026

This submission responds to Understanding Antisemitism in Australia, the handbook published by the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism in April 2026 for use by workplaces, universities, government agencies and police. We argue that the handbook treats central parts of Palestinian history, including descriptions of apartheid and of the Nakba as ethnic cleansing that are used by major human rights organisations, as antisemitic, and treats the views of anti-Zionist Jews as expressions of hatred of Jews in terms more sweeping than the IHRA definition itself. It was prepared without consulting Palestinian or anti-Zionist Jewish organisations, the groups it affects most. Speaking as Jews who reject the framing it makes in our name, we ask the Commission to find that the handbook has discriminatory effects and to recommend that it be withdrawn.

Testimonies of Jews who attend Palestine solidarity rallies

Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion · April 2026

Members of Jewish Voices who regularly attend Palestine solidarity rallies, many with young children and many clearly identified as Jewish by their banners and T-shirts, describe what they have actually experienced there: welcome, warmth and gratitude, and no slogans or speeches directed at Jewish people. Among them are daughters and sons of Holocaust survivors. The testimonies show that there are Jewish Australians who do not experience pro-Palestine activism or its slogans as antisemitic, and that understanding of these slogans changes as Jewish people come to know Palestinians and their advocates. They were first written for the NSW Parliament’s inquiry into measures to prohibit slogans (see below).

Inquiry into the Human Rights Bill 2025

NSW Parliament, Committee on Community Services · July 2026

We supported the Human Rights Bill 2025 and urged the committee to recommend that it pass. New South Wales has some of the weakest statutory human rights protection of any comparable democracy, while Victoria, the ACT and Queensland already have human rights laws. A Human Rights Act would give every person in NSW enforceable protection, including for the rights to speak, assemble and protest that our Royal Commission submissions show are under pressure.

Inquiry into measures to prohibit slogans that incite hatred

NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety · January 2026

After the Bondi attack, the NSW Government asked this committee to recommend which slogans should be banned. We opposed, in the strongest terms, rushing in laws that treat political speech as hate speech and that are aimed in practice at advocacy for Palestinian freedom, and argued that they would not make Jewish people safer. We urged the Government to fund the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework, which tackles racism in every form, and included the first-hand testimony of members who attend the rallies where these slogans are used. Our submission was quoted numerous times in the Inquiry report.

Inquiry into antisemitism in New South Wales: answers to supplementary questions

NSW Legislative Council Portfolio Committee No. 5 · 19 June 2025

After our evidence at the public hearing, the committee put two further questions to us: whether our members’ sense of safety at pro-Palestine rallies reflects the experience of others, and how we reconciled that experience with an incident at a University of Technology Sydney protest. We acknowledged that some people genuinely feel discomfort, and explained that it stems from the mistaken merging of criticism of Israel with hostility towards Jews, not from what happens at the rallies. We noted that the organised movement keeps its focus on Israel and regularly includes Jewish speakers, and welcomed the inquiry’s role in drawing a clear line between antisemitism and criticism of Israel.

Inquiry into antisemitism in New South Wales: public hearing

NSW Legislative Council Portfolio Committee No. 5 · 19 May 2025

Members of Jewish Voices gave evidence to the committee on our behalf at Parliament House, Sydney, appearing in the same session as Sydney Friends of Standing Together. They spoke about the diversity of views in the Jewish community and the problem of treating Jewish people as if we all think alike. The hearing transcript and all submissions are available on the inquiry’s page.

Inquiry into antisemitism in New South Wales: submission No. 49

NSW Legislative Council Portfolio Committee No. 5 · 6 April 2025

Our first parliamentary submission introduced Jewish Voices as an organisation of Jewish residents of inner Sydney who are deeply committed to combating all forms of racism, of which antisemitism is the one that affects us personally. We argued that antisemitism can only be challenged successfully if it is clearly defined, measured on the evidence, addressed alongside all forms of discrimination, and not weaponised or singled out for political ends. Members who attend Newtown Synagogue described their alarm at its vandalism in January 2025, and the submission set out our concern at the political response to the attacks that followed.

Letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University

Letter · June 2026

We wrote to the Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University expressing our concern at the forced redundancy of Middle East Studies scholar Jumana Bayeh, one of several academics now challenging their dismissals in the Fair Work Commission.

Letter to the Governor-General and Prime Minister on President Herzog’s visit

Letter written by Jewish Voices, signed by eleven organisations · 5 January 2026

We drafted, and eleven organisations, nine of them Jewish, signed a letter urging the Governor-General and the Prime Minister to withdraw the Government’s invitation to Israeli President Isaac Herzog. The letter pointed to his public statements attributing collective responsibility to the civilian population of Gaza and to the finding of the UN Commission of Inquiry in September 2025 that he had incited genocide. It warned that the visit risked breaching Australia’s international obligations and, by associating Jewish Australians with alleged war crimes, would worsen antisemitism at an extremely fragile moment, weeks after the Bondi attack.

Joint statement on Israel’s deregistration of humanitarian organisations

Joint statement with six Jewish and community organisations · 7 January 2026

With six other organisations, we condemned Israel’s decision to deregister 37 international humanitarian organisations working in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, at a time of critical need. As the occupying power, Israel is obliged under the Geneva Conventions to ensure adequate supplies reach Palestinian civilians; it is failing that duty and preventing others from filling the gap. The statement argued that Israel’s registration rules violate the humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality, and called on the Australian Government and Opposition to declare the move a clear breach and say so to the Israeli government.

Letter to the Australian Government on the Global Sumud Flotilla

Letter · 3 October 2025

When Israel intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters and detained the volunteers, including Australians, who were carrying aid to Gaza, we wrote to the Government. We noted that the interception took place on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and called on the Government to secure the safety and immediate release of the Australians detained, publicly condemn the interception, demand an end to the siege of Gaza, take concrete measures including sanctions and the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador, and give full consular support to the families.

“Racism wrapped in a flag”: statement on the March for Australia

Statement · 1 September 2025

As Jewish Australians committed to human rights and equality for all, we condemned the “March for Australia” rallies of 31 August 2025. We described them as an attempt to sow division in our communities: a protest against inclusion, organised by racist extremists and underpinned by bigotry, hatred and threats of violence.

Letter to the Human Rights Commissioner on the Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism

Letter · 27 August 2025

We wrote to Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay about her billing as a guest speaker at the Australian Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism on the Gold Coast, hosted by the US-based Combat Antisemitism Movement. We said we oppose all racism, including antisemitism, but that the summit’s organisers and sponsors include people and groups linked to extremist politics, the Israeli military and lobbying interests and that it promotes the IHRA definition, which conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. We asked her to reconsider, as her participation risked undermining confidence in her office.

Open letter condemning attempts to cancel Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah

Open letter · 19 August 2025

A group of academics writing as the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism wrote to La Trobe University and the Bendigo Writers Festival seeking to have Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah removed from the festival program. We welcome academics taking part in public debate, but this was not a contribution to debate: it was an attempt to cancel a scholar. Our open letter rejected the group’s claims, including that anti-Zionism is itself antisemitic, a claim that would brand our own Jewish members who oppose Zionism as antisemites.

Letter to the Inner West Mayor and councillors on the Mayors Summit

Letter · 18 August 2025

We wrote to the Inner West Mayor and councillors about plans for councillors, including the Mayor, to attend the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s summit on the Gold Coast on 3–5 September. We reminded the Mayor that at our meeting on 1 April 2025 it was agreed that Jewish Voices would be consulted on major local decisions relating to antisemitism, and asked that the decision be reviewed given the organiser’s close links to the Israeli government and its aim of having the IHRA definition adopted at every level of government.

Letter to the Prime Minister: real action on Gaza

Letter · 30 July 2025

Writing as Jewish residents of the Inner West, many of us the Prime Minister’s own constituents, we asked for action rather than words. We called for immediate sanctions on Israeli political and military leaders and on businesses operating in the occupied territories or supplying the Israeli military; Australian Defence Force and aid-program support for UN organisations distributing aid in Gaza; recognition of Palestine to increase diplomatic pressure; investigation of Australians who have served in the Israeli military in the current conflict; and rejection of the Special Envoy’s report in favour of fully supporting the National Anti-Racism Framework.

Statement on the Special Envoy’s plan to combat antisemitism

Media release · 11 July 2025

Our statement on the Special Envoy’s newly published plan strongly rejected it. The plan’s central action is to adopt the IHRA definition, which even its lead drafter says has been weaponised, and to use it to pressure universities and cultural institutions by threatening their funding, much as the Trump administration has done. We warned that by formally tying Australian Jews to Israel while Israel faces a plausible genocide case at the International Court of Justice, the plan may increase antisemitism, and urged the Government to focus on reducing all forms of racism instead. Guardian Australia quoted our statement in its coverage.

Letter to Inner West Council and our local representatives

Open letter · 7 February 2025

Twenty-five of our members wrote to the Inner West Mayor and every councillor, and to the Prime Minister and the state and federal members for inner Sydney. The letter condemned the antisemitic attacks then taking place across Sydney and welcomed the arrests, but rejected the use of those attacks for political point-scoring, noted that rising Islamophobia was receiving far less attention, and rejected the claim that criticism of Israel is antisemitism, which erases the diversity of opinion in our community. It asked our representatives to unite the community against antisemitism and all racism. The letter was tabled at the Inner West Council meeting of 18 February 2025, and led to our meetings with Tanya Plibersek and the Mayor.

Member organisation of Australian BDS Alliance

Coalition membership · 9 July 2026

On the 21st anniversary of the 2005 call by more than 170 Palestinian civil society organisations for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, we joined the BDS Alliance Australia. We had long called for government sanctions to end the genocide and apartheid; we now add boycott and divestment to those calls.

Interfaith and intercommunity statement on the Bondi Beach attack

Joint statement · 17 December 2025

Three days after the attack, we joined faith and community organisations, Jewish, Muslim, Christian and others, in a statement standing with Jewish Australians. It affirmed that violence against people practising their faith has no place in Australia, honoured the paramedics, first responders and bystanders who showed great courage, including Ahmed Al-Ahmed who tackled a gunman, cautioned against scapegoating entire communities, and declared that we refuse to let hatred divide us.

Jewish coalition open letter opposing the Special Envoy’s plan

Open letter to the Prime Minister and Ministers · 14 November 2025

With eight other Jewish organisations, we released an open letter urging the Federal Government to reject the plan put forward by Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. The letter recognises the threat of antisemitism but warns that the plan conflates it with criticism of Israel, threatens political speech and deals with antisemitism in isolation from other racism. It calls on the Government to reject the plan, not adopt the IHRA definition, fund and implement the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework, and withhold enforcement, monitoring or reporting powers from the Envoy. More than twenty civil society, faith and community organisations supported the letter, including Amnesty International Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre and the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. Our spokesperson, Jesse McNicoll, warned that the IHRA definition deliberately blurs the line between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israel, while neo-Nazis march on our streets.

Call to boycott the Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism

Coalition campaign · August 2025

Alongside the Australian Services Union, Democracy in Colour, the Jewish Council of Australia and Greens councillors, we called on mayors and councillors to boycott the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Gold Coast summit, where a US-based group was offering to pay councillors’ travel and accommodation. The coalition’s call was reported by Guardian Australia.

Other joint statements we have signed

2025–2026

In January 2026 we signed the Australians for Humanity statement, backed by more than 500 organisations and individuals, calling for the invitation to President Herzog to be withdrawn. In February 2025 a number of our members signed the statement “Jewish Australians say NO to ethnic cleansing”, published in the Sydney Morning Herald, rejecting the call by US President Trump for Palestinians to be removed from Gaza.

Meetings with local, state and federal representatives

February–May 2025

After our February 2025 letter, the Federal Minister for the Environment and Member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek, responded and met with us. On 1 April 2025 we met the Mayor of the Inner West, who agreed that we would be consulted on major local decisions relating to antisemitism. Over the following months our committee met the state members for inner Sydney electorates, including the Member for Balmain, Kobi Shetty, to discuss what is really needed to address antisemitism. All of the MPs engaged openly and constructively.

Understanding Antisemitism in Australia

Public guide · 2026

A plain-language public guide to recognising antisemitism accurately, produced by Jewish Advocates for Understanding Antisemitism and supported by Jewish Voices. It applies one test to every case, whether a person is being targeted because they are Jewish, and works through contested terms and protest language, the problems with the IHRA definition, and what organisations can do instead. It is written for the public, journalists, policymakers and anyone being asked to adopt a definition of antisemitism.

This guide is separate from the Special Envoy’s handbook of the same name, which we criticise in our submission Discriminatory antisemitism guidance works against social cohesion.