00:00Australia began public hearings on Monday, May 4th, into the Bondi Beach mass shooting
00:05in December, part of a wide-ranging national inquiry into antisemitism in the country.
00:10The attack left 15 dead at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration and fueled calls for tougher gun
00:15controls and more action to tackle hatred towards Jews.
00:18Virginia Bell is a retired judge appointed to lead the Royal Commission inquiry.
00:23She said the first block of public hearings would investigate the nature and prevalence
00:27of antisemitism in the country.
00:28The sharp spike in antisemitism that we've witnessed in Australia has been mirrored in
00:36other Western countries and seems clearly linked to events in the Middle East.
00:43It's important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility
00:53towards Jewish Australians simply because they're Jews.
00:59The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has received more than 5,700 submissions
01:05from the public.
01:06The commission is due to deliver its final report on December 14th, exactly one year on from
01:11the Bondi Beach attack.
01:12Richard Lancaster from the commission branded antisemitism a virus.
01:18Like a virus, it mutates.
01:20Religious, cultural and racial antisemitism all persist.
01:25But one of the tasks of this hearing block is to identify and assess the current character
01:30of antisemitism in Australia.
01:32Witnesses from the Jewish community told the inquiry they felt increasingly unsafe amid rising hostility
01:38since the October 2023 start of the war in Gaza.
01:41The
01:42I'll see you next time.
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