Anti-Semitism Escalated After Bondi Attack, AFP Tells Inquiry

There has been an escalating trend in anti-Semitism across Australia since the Bondi attack, the Anti-Semitism Royal Commission has heard.

On Dec. 14, 2025, two gunmen carried out a mass shooting at a local Jewish Hanukkah celebration, killing 15 people and injuring more than 40 before being intercepted by law enforcement.

The incident was considered Australia’s deadliest mass shooting since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

During a hearing into the Bondi attack, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said the agency was concerned that such a major incident could increase the risk of religiously, politically, or ideologically motivated violent extremism, as well as incidents driven by a combination of those factors.

He said antisemitism was present across all three categories.

“We saw protest activity—which is a legitimate part of functioning democracy—turn into violent protests. We saw increasing anti-Semitic chants,” Nutt told the commission.

“We saw gatherings where praising around the attack was occurring, and we also saw an increasingly open display of prohibited hate symbols, specifically where we were concerned was around the symbols of proscribed terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Hezbollah.

“There was absolutely a concern that the anti-Semitism could escalate to actual terrorist acts,” he said.

No Major Operational Changes

When the national terrorism threat level was raised to “probable” in August 2024, the AFP did not make major operational changes because it had maintained its counterterrorism activity after the threat level was lowered to “possible” in November 2022.

“However, when the change occurred, our focus was very much on the meaning of what the increase in the [risk of] terrorist attack actually meant in terms of our caseload, and what I mean by that is not only the subjects that were under investigation … but also how our officers evaluate and triage threat information,” Nutt said.

“[We were] very mindful around potential changes to people’s behaviour that would warrant increased attention and potential disruption,”

The finding of explosives and anti-Semitic material in a caravan at Dural in January 2025 raised both community fear and police vigilance, though it was later found by police to have been a “fabricated terrorist plot” with links to both local and overseas organised crime groups.

Nutt said that while it was a hoax, the discovery had a “chilling effect” on the Jewish community.

“Given the extent of media attention it got, it had the desired effect on the impact of the Jewish community and Australia at large,” he said.

That incident occurred against a backdrop of an increasing number of antisemitic incidents, particularly in New South Wales.

Anti-Semitic Crimes Across Sydney

Nutt also commented on the significant number of anti-Semitic crimes in Sydney.

“The reality was the vandalism and arson attacks that were being seen throughout Sydney,” he told the commission.

“[These are] state offences, and New South Wales police were the first responders in those aspects. However, as a collective, we also sought to understand what evidence was gleaned from the New South Wales police investigations to help inform and understand who’s sitting behind some of those incidents.”

In December 2024, the AFP established Special Operation Avalite to investigate threats, violence, and expressions of hatred targeting the Australian Jewish community and parliamentarians. Currently, it is investigating 15 serious allegations.

Nutt told the commission that, a year later, the threat of anti-Semitism had become a particular concern, with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) issuing a threat assessment stating that, while there was no credible intelligence of a pending attack, the holiday period would be one of “heightened risk.”

“That was communicated amongst our staff in terms of increased vigilance,” he said.

After the Bondi terror attack, the AFP’s National Security Investigations teams were given increased government funding, which allowed for the establishment of four additional teams.