Top US Jewish leader warns Australia must act fast on antisemitism as royal commission resumes
The head of the Anti-Defamation League has issued a blunt warning to Australia as a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion resumes in Sydney
The head of the Anti-Defamation League has issued a blunt warning to Australia as a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion resumes in Sydney on Tuesday. Jonathan Greenblatt says the country faces a crucial test as it confronts a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents.
The warning lands as a global report on antisemitism found Australia recorded the biggest increase in incidents among the countries studied. That statistic has sharpened scrutiny of how authorities, institutions and protest organisers respond when hate spills into public life.
Commission turns to protests
On Tuesday, the commission enters its seventh hearing block and will examine the democratic function of protests, hateful conduct that can emerge at demonstrations, and the way police manage public gatherings. The hearing agenda goes straight to a sensitive question. Where does protest end, and intimidation begin?
Greenblatt, who leads one of the world’s most prominent Jewish organisations, is in Australia this week focusing on the issue. A former White House adviser to Barack Obama, he is among the most senior Jewish figures in the United States, home to about 7.5 million Jewish people.
He has spent years on the front line of antisemitism fights in the US. Now his attention has shifted to Australia. “Get this right” is the message, and it is pointed.
Why his visit matters
The stakes are bigger than one inquiry. Australia’s response will be watched closely by Jewish communities, protest movements and law enforcement officials looking for a workable balance between free expression and protection from hate. That balance has become harder to hold in many democracies as polarised politics moves from slogans to street level.
On Monday, Greenblatt was accompanied by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin when he paid his respects at a memorial at the site of th... The visit underlined the personal weight of the issue for Jewish leaders, even as the commission prepares to hear evidence on how public demonstrations can either protect democratic life or help normalise abuse.
For Australia, the message from Washington is stark. The country has already been singled out for the fastest rise in antisemitic incidents in the global report, and the commission’s next hearing block now puts protest policing directly under the lens. One number hangs over all of it: Australia had the highest increase in incidents of the countries studied.
