By: Nomi Kaltmann as seen in Crikey

9 September 2026

Now that the public hearings of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion have concluded, Commissioner Virginia Bell has the unenviable task of turning months of testimony, more than 20,000 submissions and 346 witness accounts into a report that will shape how Australia responds to antisemitism for years to come.

Due on December 18, four days after the first anniversary of the Bondi terrorist attack, the report will grapple with thorny questions that at times involve competing considerations. How do we protect Jewish Australians from antisemitism without restricting legitimate political speech? How do we distinguish protest and robust debate from intimidation and incitement? How do we respond to extremism without creating laws so broad that they undermine the democratic freedoms of all Australians?

The past few years have been rough. Since October 7, to be Jewish in Australia has meant increased security, including armed guards outside synagogues, upgraded bollards and blast-resistant fencing around Jewish schools, and the new and unwelcome development of many Jewish events no longer providing a location until the last minute. As a community, Jews in Australia have lived through unprecedented acts of antisemitism, such as the arson attack that destroyed the Adass Israel Synagogue.

The commission has heard from many Jewish Australians about their lived experiences with antisemitism, and what it has felt like to experience this difficult period. I hope Justice Bell’s final report will ask hard questions about the environments that allowed this hatred to grow and the institutions that failed to adequately respond.

I have been impressed by Justice Bell, but I remain perplexed by the lack of scrutiny of some of the movements and individuals that have helped stoke antisemitism in Australia. The commission’s terms of reference specifically required it to examine the drivers of antisemitism, including religious extremism, far-right extremism, radicalisation and the role of preachers and other authority figures who incite hatred.

Although the commission spoke to intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies as well as community and religious leaders and deradicalisation experts, I still don’t think it went as hard as it could have. I would have liked to see a much more forensic examination of the people and organisations disseminating extremist ideas, to have heard from more experts about why there has been limited success in prosecuting instances of radicalisation and incitement against Australia’s Jewish community. I wanted to hear from government ministers about what they knew about growing antisemitism, what advice they had received from intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and why particular interventions were or were not pursued.

I would have liked Justice Bell to follow some of these ecosystems backwards, tracing how extremist ideas are produced, funded, amplified and disseminated in Australia, and then examine what happens when these ideas cross the line from rhetoric into incitement, intimidation or violence. There is a meaningful difference between listening to Australian Jews describe the antisemitism they have experienced and interrogating — really forensically investigating — the ecosystems that produce it.

The commissioner’s report will hopefully delineate where radicalisation is occurring, who is driving it, how online networks and influential figures are contributing to it, and why Australia’s government and law enforcement agencies have sometimes struggled to manage incitement. If we want to prevent antisemitism and the possibility of another Bondi, we need to understand not just the feeling of antisemitism but also its evolution.

The commission’s terms of reference specifically asked it to examine protective security and government funding. Australia has become accustomed to Jewish communities paying for our own security. My children’s Jewish school has an in-built security levy that I am expected to pay as a parent, on top of the school’s fees. A similar security levy is also built into synagogue memberships and memberships of most major Jewish communal organisations. If Australia is unable to protect its Jews, then why should Jewish parents and the Jewish community have to bear the cost of funding the armed guards standing outside our institutions as well as upgrading our fences and security cameras?

The same principle should apply to public Jewish events. The commission has rightly examined the police and intelligence response to the Bondi attack, as well as the information available to authorities at the time, and the security arrangements at the Hanukkah party that was targeted. Will the final report translate this examination into clear national standards for protecting high-risk community events, for all multifaith communities?

Following Bondi, Australia has already tightened its gun laws and legislated a national firearms buyback program. New migration laws have also strengthened the government’s ability to refuse or cancel visas in cases involving hate-motivated conduct and extremism. These are welcome and important steps, but legislation is only as useful as the institutions implementing it.

I hope the commission recommends improved intelligence sharing, clearer thresholds for intervention, stronger coordination between federal and state agencies, better training for police and security agencies, and sufficient resources to act on threats before they become tragedies.

Ultimately though, we cannot police our way out of antisemitism. Australia needs sustained investment in education about antisemitism and racism, meaningful interfaith engagement, programs that prevent radicalisation, and initiatives that teach young Australians how propaganda and online extremism work.

Jewish Australians are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for the bare minimum: the ability to live our lives with our kids, in safety. The commission has given ordinary Australians an important opportunity to confront these questions honestly. I hope the final report results in concrete changes that will help make Australia safer for all people.