Bondi attack must prompt a reflection on antisemitism in the arts
Jewish artists and writers have reported feeling ostracised and culturally homeless in their formerly welcoming creative communities. This must change.
Opinion
December 31, 2025 — 5.00am
December 31, 2025 — 5.00am
Shortly after the Bondi massacre, I joined an informal gathering of Jews who came together to share in our shock and grief.
We were broad in age, ranging from toddlers to people in their mid-70s and mostly progressively minded. You don’t have to ask twice for guests to offer an opinion at a Jewish function.
Flowers laid in grief after the Bondi massacre. Credit: Getty Images
So when the convenor asked if anyone wanted to speak their mind, there was no shortage of volunteers. Speakers expressed devastation, dismay and a determination to continue living openly Jewish lives, among many emotions.
But I was most struck by a young woman who described attending a friend’s wedding, shortly before the Bondi atrocity, where she was chatting to a man in his late 20s. Somehow the topic of her Jewish identity came up.
The man asked if he could pose a question but stressed he did not want to cause offence. This young woman braced, anticipating a difficult discussion about the war in Gaza or stereotypes about money and power. Instead, she was shocked when he said: “Do you think the Holocaust actually happened? Because it sounds like a really convenient storyline for a film.”
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A collective gasp swept our room as the young woman recounted this experience. Her story weighed on me for days afterwards.
Something fundamental has shifted in the lives of Jewish Australians since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, murdering 1200 people on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent military response from the Israeli Defence Forces that has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 Palestinians.
The young woman’s experience is consistent with something I have seen myself: the proliferation and enabling of antisemitism particularly in the creative, intellectual and cultural spheres.
There has been widespread condemnation of the hate-filled massacre perpetrated by the two gunmen at Bondi. Gun laws will change. There is a focus on hate speech. But this moment calls for much more than that.
We need deep introspection from the creative and cultural communities that, for too long, have sidelined and created a hostile landscape for Australian Jews.
