Antisemitism in Australia reached the highest level ever recorded in 2024. 2,062 incidents in a single year—a 316% increase. Physical assaults up 491%. Synagogues attacked. Fifteen people murdered at Bondi Beach during Hanukkah.
Jewish Australians deserve to feel safe in their own country.
But why are the numbers getting worse—and why are people dying—despite an unprecedented “antisemitism campaign” by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, AIJAC, and others?
Politically, they got everything they asked for. Speech bans. Firings. Festival cancellations. University defunding threats. Jillian Segal appointed Special Envoy. A $91 million Royal Commission.
But in every case, it literally backfires.
Every. Single. Time.
Wertheim v Haddad
Haddad is no sympathetic figure—his posts were vile. But ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim and Deputy President Robert Goot AO SC didn’t just go after hate speech. They spent four years trying to criminalise criticism of Zionism itself under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act in the Federal Court of Australia. Their barrister: Peter Braham SC. They overreached.
“Disparagement of Zionism constitutes disparagement of a philosophy or ideology and not a race or ethnic group.”
Own goal, anyone?
Binding precedent. The opposite of what they wanted. And going after Haddad didn’t stop Bondi. Four years of litigation didn’t make him less hateful. Did it push him further?
Lattouf v ABC
Robert Goot—the same Senior Counsel—was active in a “Lawyers for Israel” WhatsApp group that pressured ABC into firing Antoinette Lattouf. 156 members. Goot fed intelligence from inside ABC back to the group. He wrote: “I understand she will be gone from morning radio from Friday.” Nine lawyers were granted suppression orders hiding their identities for ten years. Justice Darryl Rangiah:
“The complaints were an orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists to have Ms Lattouf taken off air.”
“The ABC let down the Australian public badly when it abjectly surrendered the rights of its employee Ms Lattouf to appease a lobby group.”
“It did so for spurious reasons and without giving Ms Lattouf the opportunity to defend herself.”
Lattouf offered to settle for $85,000. The ABC refused. Final cost to taxpayers: $2.62 million.
Employees now expressly protected under the common law when sharing material critical of Israel.
Own. Goal.
Lees v State of NSW
They convinced NSW Parliament to push through the Crimes Amendment (Places of Worship) Act after a protest near the Great Synagogue. In the process, they handed Josh Lees—their arch nemesis—multiple victories in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. First, Justice Rigg refused to ban his “March for Humanity” across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Up to 300,000 people walked across. Then Justice Anna Mitchelmore struck down the legislation itself:
“Protest inherently involves disruption—noise, assembly, and mobilising public awareness—and this is constitutionally protected.”
The law was declared unconstitutional. It “impermissibly burdens the implied constitutional freedom of communication on government or political matters and is invalid.”
Own. Goal.
Shurat HaDin v Jake Lynch
An Israeli law centre tried to outlaw BDS at the University of Sydney. Case dismissed. Costs awarded against them.
Parke v Rubenstein
AIJAC’s Colin Rubenstein called former Labor MP Melissa Parke an antisemite. He settled by publicly acknowledging she was not.
Cassuto v Kostakidis
Alon Cassuto—CEO of the Zionist Federation of Australia—is pursuing Mary Kostakidis, the veteran journalist and former SBS newsreader, for two retweets. The law firm: Arnold Bloch Leibler. Lead counsel: Michael Borsky KC. The same legal theory Justice Stewart just rejected. They’re running it again.
Keane and Riemer
Two University of Sydney academics sued under section 18C for social media posts criticising Israel. Barrister: Adam Butt, Eight Wentworth Chambers. Backed by former Federal Court Judge Ron Merkel. The university itself sued for vicarious liability. The message to every institution in Australia: let your staff criticise Israel and we’ll sue you too.
The Royal Commission
They lobbied for a Royal Commission. They got one. A $91 million inquiry into why antisemitism exploded during the same period ECAJ and AIJAC were engaged in unprecedented lawfare and lobbying, in the name of combating antisemitism. They objected to the appointment of Virginia Bell AC, a former Justice of the High Court. They are now pushing to broaden its scope from antisemitism into a generalised inquiry about “social cohesion.”
Same Lawyers, Same Strategy
Six losses. Pending cases built on theories the courts have already rejected. Goot appears in two cases. Arnold Bloch Leibler—whose senior partner Mark Leibler AC is also National Chairman of AIJAC—runs another. Butt appears in the university cases. Separate organisations. Same handful of lawyers.
What Drives Antisemitism
Antisemitism isn’t driven by speech. It’s driven by war. Every country experienced spikes after October 7, regardless of advocacy strategy. UK: 589%. Canada: 670%. Australia: 316%. The pattern is global. When violence escalates in Gaza, antisemitism rises everywhere.
And by insisting that Israel represents all Jews, the lobby ensures that when Israel is condemned, Jews everywhere are blamed. The conflation is the danger. They created it. They enforce it. Jewish Australians pay for it.
The Infrastructure
AIJAC has taken over 500 Australian politicians, journalists, and public servants on sponsored trips to Israel since 2002. Jillian Segal recommended defunding universities and terminating public servants for pro-Palestine views. Her husband’s trust donated $50,000 to Advance Australia two weeks before her appointment. She didn’t disclose it. ECAJ won’t disclose its own membership numbers but dismissed the Jewish Council of Australia—over 1,000 members who say “Jewish safety is not at odds with Palestinian freedom”—as a “far-left micro-group.”
Despite this, 3,716 antisemitic incidents in two years. Synagogues attacked. Fifteen murdered at Bondi. Their response: ban protest slogans. Lawfare against journalists.
Australia has navigated existential challenges before without importing foreign ideological frameworks to do it. The Communist Party dissolution case, where the High Court told Menzies that even Cold War fears don’t justify banning political parties. Native title, where the country confronted 200 years of dispossession through law, not suppression. Port Arthur, where 35 people died and the gun laws changed in twelve days. Each time, the institutions held because Australians trusted the process—not because lobby groups rewrote the rules.
And when it mattered, Australians looked after each other. After the Lindt Cafe siege, #IllRideWithYou trended worldwide—ordinary people offering to sit with Muslim commuters so they wouldn’t travel alone. In the Black Summer fires, volunteer firefighters left their own homes burning to defend their neighbours’. In Lismore, tinnies turned up before the SES did.
None of that required a $91 million Royal Commission. None of it required speech bans, suppression orders, or lawfare.
Foreign wars and theological debates about Zionism do not need to infect that process.
So who is this strategy actually for?