Australia: Antisemitic Incidents Surge by Over 300% Since Oct 7 Attack, “Go Back to the Gas Chambers”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) states in a new report that, in the year since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, Australia saw an unprecedented 316% increase in antisemitic incidents.

Published on December 1, 2024, the report includes documented acts of antisemitic violence against Jewish people but does not include antisemitic social media content.

The ECAJ reports the following among many antisemitic incidents:

“A Jewish man was hit by a large rock and injured, requiring medical treatment, by an anti-Israel protester across the road from a synagogue, Caulfield, Melbourne (10 Nov. 2023).

“Verbal abuse and harassment and physical assault of a Jewish student in Year 10, by a student in his class who told the Jewish student to “Go back to the gas chambers”, said “Heil Hitler” in his face, Sydney (5 Feb. 2024).”

“Physical abuse of a 77-year-old Jewish woman who was spat on, threatened and kicked multiple times, by protesters opposing a rally to counter antisemitism, outside Victorian Parliament House, Melbourne (19 May 2024).”

In a statement introducing the report, ECAJ Research Director Julie Nathan urged the international community to guard against antisemitic behavior. “If it was thought that anti-Jewish racism was a thing of the past and defeated, the last 12 months has shown that it has been cynically reactivated and stoked for political purposes,” Nathan said.

“The physical, verbal and other forms of attacks on Jewish individuals, families and community venues will continue to worsen unless governments, police and others show some spine by taking resolute action to halt the rising tide of acts of hatred against the Jewish community and bringing those responsible to account,” Nathan stated.

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