I was in Bondi, waiting to drive into a parking lot. A car was blocking the entrance. It was stationary and the driver had abundant space in front of him. I rolled down my window and politely asked: “Could you move forward, please?”

I could never have anticipated the reaction: “F---ing South African Jew!” barked the driver. “You think you can come here and take over.” And again: “F---ing South African Jew!”

I was taken aback, my mental equilibrium suddenly out of kilter. I found myself wondering: “Did that really happen?”

I have been on the front line of human rights work in this country for four decades, advocating for issues ranging from gay rights and reconciliation with the First Nations to speaking out against Islamophobia, opposing all manner of bigotry as chair of Multicultural NSW and combating anti-Jewish racism as chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.

The latter expression of hate manifested in multiple ways, all insidious, yet invariably occurring within a context. A bizarre context, to be sure, mostly bound up with some conspiracy theory, but context nevertheless. What shook me about the Bondi incident was that there was no context whatsoever. None. No road rage. No fiery exchange. Simply a random explosion of racist abuse.

I was about to say it came out of nowhere – but how accurate would that be? Did it come out of nowhere? Or has the climate in this country and indeed, globally, changed?

I recently attended the Sydney Writers Festival, conducive to articulate presentations and respectful debate. And supposedly a safe space. The session featured British barrister Philippe Sands, best known for East West Street, on the origins of genocide and crimes against humanity, and Michael Gawenda, a former editor of The Age whose book My Life As A Jew was published two years ago. Thoughtful discussion followed, after which a member of the audience brazenly informed the 400 people present that they and the speakers were missing “the elephant in the room” – the “tentacles” of Australia’s Jewish lobby, which she asserted controls our society.

Such allegations are pernicious and ignore the fact that lobbying is an integral facet of democracy. What shocked members of the audience was the extraordinary confidence with which she tossed out as fact the trope that Jewish Australians have tentacles and use them to nefariously shape society to their will.

Just last weekend, we saw neo-Nazis on our streets.

So how did we get here? How did our country get to a place in which law-abiding Jewish Australians peacefully going about their lives encounter antisemitic abuse? Every single day. Where Jewish artists such as Deborah Conway and Nina Sanadze are cancelled, no plausible explanation offered. Invitations to perform withdrawn. Necklaces featuring the Star of David left in the drawer. Online harassment a constant. Casual conversations default to this or that untoward incident. Feelings of abandonment by long-time colleagues. Jewish identity frequently concealed in public places.

To be clear: the issue is not the conflict thousands of kilometres away, even though some brush the racism aside by pointing to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza; the issue is who we are as a nation, respect for diversity, denigration of minorities. It’s about the conduct that each of us is willing – or refuses – to accept. Most pertinently, it’s about the bizarre notion which holds Jewish Australians responsible for the tragic situation on the other side of the world.

Australian Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay drew attention in a compelling article to “quieter forms of antisemitism ... Jewish university students who no longer feel safe on campus, Jewish parents who have told their children not to say they are Jewish, Jewish school students advised not to wear their uniforms on public transport. How could this be happening in Australia? It is easy for these examples to go unnoticed. Yet for the Jewish community it impacts every aspect of their lives. This is not something the Jewish community should be left to face alone.”

We have endured the most far-reaching outbreak of anti-Jewish racism in the history of this nation. While the recent focus has been on Iranian involvement in the attacks on a Sydney kosher outlet and Melbourne synagogue, the number of antisemitic incidents in the past two years, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry exceeds 2000.

We are at a defining moment in this country. Social cohesion is being tested like never before. Where is the nation which championed multiculturalism? When does the damage to civil liberties and the assault on human rights become so normalised as to be irreversible? Where are the voices of civil society demonstrating courage and leadership and calling out anti-Jewish racism? The looming alternative, which confronts us all with unforeseen consequences, is a frightening new normal.

Vic Alhadeff is former chair of Multicultural NSW and former CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.