Jewish Australians are being isolated from social settings and concealing parts of their identities, a senior rabbi says.
Children as young as 10 have been excluded from birthday parties and social media group chats because they are Jewish, Union for Progressive Judaism senior Rabbi Allison Conyer told the anti-Semitism royal commission on Thursday.
"Even my congregants who knew nothing about Israel, who didn't consider themselves Zionists ... were cancelled by their friends just because they were Jewish," Rabbi Conyer said.
Jewish Australians travelling to Israel will refrain from revealing their destination to colleagues and friends, and families feel discouraged from sharing their Jewish customs at multicultural school events, the inquiry was told.
"They can't express that (pride) to other people without being shut down or condemned," Rabbi Conyer said.
Anti-Semitism is facing "normalisation or acceptance", with Rabbi Conyer reflecting on an incident where a Jewish chemist was publicly told "you can't trust a Jew" and had medication thrown at him by a customer.
"Nobody stood up. Nobody said anything. Nobody defended him," she said.
Bomb threats and other messages of abuse at nearly all of the 19 progressive Jewish synagogues across Australia is further pushing Jewish Australians away from their faith.
"When we're walking in our neighbourhood and people are saying 'hunt the Jews', they don't feel safe," Rabbi Conyer said.
"Some people are getting used to it. Others are staying away because of that, so we’re losing people."
Non-denominational preschools run at progressive synagogues have experienced a 25 per cent decline and at least one service is at risk of closure, the inquiry was told.
Rabbi Conyer encouraged government support for interfaith programs in schools and communities, noting a breakdown in interfaith dialogue post-October 7, 2023, the date of Hamas's attack on Israel.
The listed terror group's assault left 1200 people dead, while Israel's subsequent attacks on Gaza killed about 72,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.
"We used to have so many schools come to our synagogue. After October 7, schools didn't want to come," Rabbi Conyer said.
"Because of all the security, people think we have secret Jewish business. We don’t, we would love for our doors to be open.
"By not having more interfaith and intercultural dialogue we remove the opportunity to humanise the other."
Former NSW Board of Jewish Deputies President Leslie Berger told the inquiry his three children began feeling "unsafe and uncomfortable in their own home" after a swastika was graffitied on their back fence in December 2024.
That fear was exacerbated a year later, when gunman opened fire on innocent Jewish Australians celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach.
Mr Berger's two youngest children were home alone at the time of the Bondi attack and "completely panicked", the inquiry was told on Thursday.
His teenage son called his best friend, who is not Jewish, and said he was afraid the home could be targeted again.
"He told his friend he didn't feel safe and his mother got in the car and came and picked up my son and daughter and took them back to her home because they didn't feel they were safe," Mr Berger said tearfully.
"I felt that I had failed as a parent."
It is "far more challenging" to be openly Jewish in Australia now than a few years ago, the inquiry was told.
Royal commission hearings in Melbourne this week are probing security risk assessments and the relationship between law enforcement agencies and Jewish security groups.
The commission will hear from Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet secretary Jeremi Moule and NSW Premier's Department secretary Simon Draper, along with Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim, on Thursday afternoon.
