Giving chilling testimony, Australian Jews unsure antisemitism inquiry can bring change |
MELBOURNE, Australia — Josh Gomperts became a paramedic because he wanted to help people in distress. But after years of volunteering with Hatzolah, Melbourne’s Jewish volunteer ambulance service, the 31-year-old found himself testifying before Australia’s royal commission into antisemitism about the abuse he endured while serving the public.
Gomperts told the commission about the time a 90-year-old patient performed a Nazi salute at him after noticing his kippa, and about a regional Australian music festival where, while he was volunteering as a paramedic, a volunteer firefighter threatened to skin him alive after realizing he was Jewish.
His testimony is among dozens now being heard by Australia’s royal commission into antisemitism, established by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre in Sydney, in which 15 people were slaughtered by gun-wielding terrorists while gathering to celebrate the holiday.
A royal commission is Australia’s highest form of public inquiry, with sweeping powers to compel witnesses and documents. Its findings often shape Australian law and policy.
The hearings have become a rare public forum for Australian Jews to describe how antisemitism has reshaped life in the aftermath of the bloody October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel and the subsequent war against the terror group in Gaza.
Two weeks of public hearings are now underway, with Jewish Australians and other witnesses giving evidence before the commission. Further blocks of hearings are expected later this year, and the commission is due to hand down its final report by December 11, just before the first anniversary of the attack.
Gomperts, who testified online from his Melbourne home, told The Times of Israel, “I came forward with my story because I don’t want to sit idly by if change is possible.”
At the same time, he remains uncertain whether the commission’s recommendations will be enough to stem the surge of antisemitism that Australian Jews have been experiencing.
“I’d love to see a more unified Australia where we all live in peace and don’t feel like we are harassed. But I’m also not sure I see a future for Jews in this country at the moment,” Gomperts said.
Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was murdered at the Bondi Hanukkah gathering, was the first witness to testify before the royal commission.
After the prime minister initially rejected calls to establish a royal........