Antisemitism allowed to fester in Australia, says daughter of wounded Holocaust survivor

Sydney: Government authorities have not done enough to stamp out hatred of Jews in Australia, which has allowed it to fester in the aftermath of October 7, said the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was wounded at the Bondi shootings on Sunday.

Victoria Teplitsky, 53, a retired childcare centre owner, said that the father and son who allegedly went on a 10-minute shooting spree that killed 15 people had been "taught to hate," which was a bigger factor in the attack than access to guns.

"It's not the fact that those two people had a gun. It's the fact that hatred has been allowed to fester against the Jewish minority in Australia," she told Reuters in an interview.

"We are angry at our government because it comes from the top, and they should have stood up for our community with strength. And they should have squashed the hatred rather than kind of letting it slide," she said.

"We've been ignored. We feel like, are we not Australian enough? Do we not matter to our government?"

The attackers fired upon hundreds of people at a Jewish festival during a roughly 10-minute killing spree, forcing people to flee and take shelter before both were shot by police.

Rising antisemitic attacks

Antisemitic incidents have been rising in Australia since the war in Gaza erupted after Palestinian militant group Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in an attack on October 7, 2023. Israel's bombardment of Gaza has since killed over 70,000 people, according to the enclave's health ministry.

A rise in such incidents in the past sixteen months prompted the head of the nation's main intelligence agency to declare that antisemitism was his top priority in terms of threat.

"This was not a surprise to the Jewish community. We warned the government of this many, many times over," Teplitsky said.

"We've had synagogues that have been graffitied, graffiti everywhere, and we've had synagogues that have been bombed," she added, referring to a 2024 arson attack in Melbourne in which no one was killed.

Teplitsky's father Semyon, 86, bled heavily after being shot in the leg, and now is facing several operations as doctors piece bone back together with cement, then remove the cement from the leg, which he still may lose, she said.

"He's in good spirits, but he's also very angry. Angry that this happened, that this was allowed to happen in Australia, the country that he took his children to, to be safe, to be away from antisemitism, to be away from Jew hatred."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese "did nothing" to curb antisemitism.

Albanese repeated on Tuesday Australia's support for a two-state solution. Pro-Palestinian protests have been common in Australia since Israel launched its offensive.

At a press briefing on Monday, Albanese read through a list of actions his government had taken, including criminalising hate speech and incitement to violence and a ban on the Nazi salute. He also pledged to extend funding for physical security for Jewish community groups.