Antisemitism 'allowed to come into the open' says Bondi victim's daughter

The daughter of a Bondi Beach attack victim has described how, since the shooting, she has received messages saying she too should have been killed.

Sheina Gutnick was the first witness appearing before Australia's royal commission into antisemitism, set up in the wake of a shooting at a Hanukkah event in December in which 15 people were killed.

Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene and his son Naveed Akram - the other alleged attacker - was critically injured and later transferred from hospital to prison.

The 24-year-old has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist attack.

"I saw people trying to excuse and justify the events as only anti-Zionist," Gutnick told a public hearing in Sydney on Monday as she listed the ways in which she was made to feel unsafe in her own country.

Her father Reuven Morrison was killed while hurling objects at the gunmen to stop them shooting.

Gutnick also told the hearing she'd seen a huge shift in antisemitism since October 2023.

"I felt as though antisemitism was allowed to come into the open," she said. "All of a sudden it was socially, morally acceptable for antisemitic comments to be made in public discourse."

Her father Reuven Morrison was "deeply proud" of being Australian, Gutnick said in her evidence. He had fled the USSR at the age of 14 and later met her mother on Bondi Beach.

Now though, Gutnick said Bondi held "complicated" feelings for her, despite having beautiful childhood memories at the famous beach.

Another person giving evidence, known only as AAL, described how he had moved to Australia from South Africa in the 1980s and loved it from the start.

"I treated Australia as home from the day I stepped off the plane," said AAL, appearing to break down during his testimony. "I have to admit things have changed - I have to think very seriously whether this is the country for my grandchildren."

The royal commission said that as of Monday morning, nearly 7,500 submissions had been made. The first block of public hearings, which lasts until 15 May, will focus on lived experience of antisemitism.

Last week, former High Court judge Virginia Bell, who is overseeing the commission, published an interim report giving 14 recommendations including prioritisation of gun reforms and extending the policing arrangements for Jewish high holy days to other Jewish events as well.

Ahead of the public hearings on Monday, Bell acknowledged a "sharp spike" in antisemitism that had been "mirrored in other western countries," adding that it was linked to "events in the Middle East".

"It's important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians simply because they're Jews," she said.

The commission is to deliver a final report on the anniversary of the shooting.