By Duncan Murray

Jewish parents fear their children are growing up in an environment of fear and hatred for their identity.

Natalie Levy’s daughter is one of two Jewish students at her school and has seen swastikas etched on walls, while children have said “heil Hitler” and given Nazi salutes, a wide-ranging antisemitism inquiry has heard.

“She’s a very proud Jewish young lady, but she’s scared,” Ms Levy said on Tuesday.

Australians are recounting experiences of a spate of antisemitic attacks on homes and businesses, at a royal commission established after the deadly attack on a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14.

Mother of three, Dina, said Bondi Beach used to mean memories of surfing, sandcastles and takeaway dinners.

“Everyone belongs at the beach,” she told the inquiry.

After the attack at Bondi, Dina said her eight year-old daughter tearfully told her: “Now, when I come to Bondi, I think about dying”.

Dina said growing up the daughter of a holocaust survivor and four displaced Jewish grandparents, awareness of antisemitism became ingrained in her psyche.

She said her own children were growing up with a similar awareness.

“It’s impossible for children not to internalise and understand they are living through that reality,” Dina said.

“They hear it being spoken about, they see it on the news, they see the stickers … it’s become part of their psyche.”

Dina’s three children go to school with concrete bollards lining the walkway, high security fences, security guards and often police, she told the inquiry.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dropped my children off and left and cried, because this is not how they should be going to school,” she said.

A friend of Dina’s hired security guards for her child’s bat mitzvah and Dina said she would likely do the same.

Ms Levy said the experiences of her children are unrecognisable from her own childhood.

“Growing up in Australia was wonderful. It was safe,” she said “Antisemitism was an olden day concept.”

Counsel assisting the commission, Zelie Heger SC, earlier told the inquiry the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel marked a significant turning point.

The Hamas attacks killed 1200 Israelis and another 250 people were taken hostage.

Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza, declared a genocide by a United Nations commission of inquiry has killed more than 67,000 people.

Ms Levy said she was in absolute disbelief when she saw a protest outside the Opera House, two days after the attack in Israel, during which men chanted “f*** the Jews” and “where are the Jews?”.

“I couldn’t believe people had come out to protest and say the most devastating and awful things about Jews out loud,” she said.

Dina said for the first time she felt the need to hide her Jewish identity in Australia by taking the Mezuzah off the door of her home.

“They were saying, ‘Where are the Jews?’ I said to (my husband), ‘What do you think they’re going to do when they find us?’.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry reported more than 2000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, a threefold increase on the year before.

The commission will hand down a final report before the end of the year.

News all day, every day at CityNews.com.au.