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The interim report by the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has revealed a muted response by the NSW Police to repeated security concerns expressed among Sydney’s Jewish community on the eve of the Bondi Beach tragedy.
The report found that just six days before the December 14 terror attack, CSG NSW, the volunteer-led organisation that arranges security for synagogues, Jewish schools and community events, emailed NSW Police advising of 13 upcoming Jewish communal events in the eastern suburbs. The group asked for assistance and warned “a terrorist attack against the NSW Jewish Community is likely”.
It specifically asked NSW Police to provide assistance with security for the event.
According to the interim report, “the Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command (PAC) Operations Inspector asked the two Inspectors rostered on 14 December to attend the Chanukah by the Sea event, take a car crew or two and provide a high visibility policing presence”, noting that there was no need to stay for the entire duration.
Furthermore: “NSW Police stated that three general duties officers and one supervisor attended the
event and that the Commander of the Eastern Suburbs PAC attended the event at various times.”
Two Islamic State-inspired gunmen allegedly killed 15 mostly Jewish people at the Chanukah By The Sea festival before police killed one and wounded another.
The royal commissioner Virginia Bell’s interim report confirms what the Jewish community has repeatedly said, before and after the Bondi tragedy; they knew their community was at significant risk. They kept raising it, publicly and privately. They raised it in this instance with the NSW Police. They feared police protection was inadequate. They were right.
The interim report focused on the security agencies and possible failures that may have led to the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.
It contains 14 recommendations. Five have not been made public. Commissioner Bell said the security procedures used for Jewish High Holy Days – which fall in September or October, and involve the Major Events Group, the Counter-Terrorism and Special Tactics Command in consultation with CSG NSW and the Jewish Board of Deputies – be deployed for other high-risk Jewish festivals and events.
She also said governments should prioritise efforts to implement nationally consistent firearm legislation and called for an urgent review into joint counterterrorism teams around Australia, with the resulting report submitted to police commissioners.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to implement all recommendations. He could hardly do otherwise.
That said, the deadliest attack in Australia’s history cannot be attributed to security failure alone. Rather, it resulted from both institutional and a failure to address widespread antisemitism in the community after the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israeli citizens.
The inquiry’s first round of public hearings begin next week, with people with lived experience of antisemitism in Australia expected to provide evidence. More than 3500 submissions have already been made to the commission.
Commission Bell will report at year’s end. But her interim report has shed light shed on how the Jewish community’s concerns were sorely underestimated and illustrate why a royal commission was so necessary.
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