00:01We got a real sense of just how pervasive anti-Semitism is within education, within
00:08the business sector or within the arts sector.
00:11We heard real lived experience perspectives from everyday Jewish Australians and also
00:16from Jewish leaders.
00:18Everything from a woman who was working for a company who was encouraged to make her name
00:23less Jewish.
00:24We heard from parents who said they were scared to drop their children off at school and
00:29having to deal with three different layers of security dropping their children off at
00:34Jewish schools.
00:35We also heard from people in so-called progressive spaces such as we heard from a climate activist,
00:43a Jewish woman who said she had been isolated from her friends in the trade union and climate
00:49movement and also a man who was in the LGBTQI community and felt that he wasn't welcome
00:55there anymore because of his Jewish identity and support for Israel.
00:59So we really got a sense of just how systemic and I guess widespread this is.
01:04It's not particularly isolated to just education in primary school, high school, something that
01:10people say they've experienced in university, in the workplace, but also sporting fields.
01:16And we also heard quite a number of quite harrowing stories of very blatant acts of anti-Semitism
01:22on public transport and in public spaces like local plazas and the train stations as well.
01:28So Gavin, what can we expect at the hearings today?
01:32Well, we're going to hear from a few more lived experience perspectives, particularly those
01:37from the creative space.
01:39We're going to be hearing from Deborah Conway, who is a singer, songwriter and a prominent
01:43Jewish woman, and also Joshua Mosh.
01:46He's a saxophonist and a composer and producer.
01:49Both of these are proud Jewish people who say they've one, been concerned about the rise
01:54of anti-Semitism, but also feel that they've been isolated from many parts of the arts sector
02:00and have effectively been, some of them say they've been sort of shadow banned or isolated
02:07from gigs or left out of potential opportunities because of their support for Israel and their
02:13Jewish identity.
02:15In the case of Deborah Conway, she has been concerned about the rise in threats.
02:20And we're also going to be hearing from a couple of rabbis as well.
02:24Daniel Rabin, he's a Melbourne rabbi, and Rabbi Manikin Dadon, now he is a Sydney rabbi.
02:30His daughter, a 14-year-old, was wounded in the Bondi beach terror attack last December.
02:37She thankfully survived, but a very harrowing experience for her because she was actually
02:43shielding some younger people when she was shot.
02:45So we can expect to hear a pretty powerful account from the rabbi.
02:50But we're also going to be hearing from a few other Jewish leaders as well, who will be speaking
02:55from an organisational perspective, including the Door Foundation, which is a not-for-profit
03:00set up to combat anti-Semitism and to foster social cohesion.
03:03So it really should be quite a jam-packed hearing today.
03:09And what will the inquiry focus on from here?
03:12So once it gets through these sort of more lived experience perspectives, it's going to
03:16be hearing increasingly from organisations as well as expert witnesses.
03:20Later this week, we're going to be hearing from experts in the UK.
03:23And we're also going to be hearing from some more peak bodies and really delving into how
03:29anti-Semitism is monitored and reported, but also how it's defined.
03:33There is some disagreement within the community as a whole.
03:38The majority of the Jewish community supports a particular definition around anti-Semitism,
03:42which is set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
03:47But some in the community feel that it sort of conflates criticism of Israel with criticism of
03:55Jewish people. So we can expect that will be something that will come up a bit later in the week.
03:59And then later this month, we're going to see the second block of hearings get underway.
04:03That's really going to be getting into the national security and policing and some of the circumstances
04:10around the Bondi terror attack, as far as the preparedness and the security arrangements around
04:17that. So that is going to be really quite interesting. We can expect quite a bit of those
04:22hearings will be held behind closed doors, given the sensitivities and also the national security concerns.
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