Jewish leader calls for national emergency declaration, taskforce to prevent antisemitic terror attack

A national emergency should be declared and a joint counter-terrorism task force established to prevent an antisemitic terror attack, one of Australia’s most prominent Jewish leaders says.

Unveiling a 15-point plan to combat antisemitism at a Sky News summit on Thursday, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said uniform policing policies should be put in place and law enforcement officials trained to better understand antisemitism and identify and prosecute perpetrators of crime.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin says a national emergency should be declared and a joint counter-terrorism task force established to prevent an antisemitic terror attack.Credit: James Brickwood

Ryvchin called for antisemitism education in school curriculums across Australia and for universities to ban encampments and the disruption of lectures by protesters. He also called for a judicial inquiry to investigate antisemitism in Australian universities and if student protests were backed by foreign funding.

“We face a crisis that has brought supporters of terrorism onto our streets, seen the indoctrination of children into a vicious ideology that will pose a threat to us all for generations,” Ryvchin said hours after 37-year-old Leon Sofilas was arrested and charged over a firebombing outside his former home in January.

“Today is a day of action. We are determined that this will mark a turning point in the battle for our country.”

Ryvchin said Australian universities should have the same legal rights as universities in the United States to discipline academics.

“Scholars must be free to challenge and inquire but this does not mean using their public salaries and positions of authority to support violence and express racial hatred free from scrutiny,” he said.

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said it was a “great moral failing” of some Australian universities that students were, to his knowledge, afraid of being identified as Jewish.

“It’s a very good thing to shine a light on antisemitic hate and to denounce it,” Lee told the summit.

“Unless people of good will can work actively to build a broad consensus for reform of our education system, a failing system will endure and so will the underlying causes of this crisis.”

Leon Emmanuel Sofilas is accused of playing a role in multiple antisemitic attacks.

Religious groups and charitable organisations should be stripped of their charity status and have their funding revoked if they promote racism or antisemitism or display terrorist symbols, Ryvchin said.

He also called for amendments to the Migration Act that would include antisemitic acts as grounds for a visa to be refused or cancelled – a proposal backed at the summit by federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton – and for immigration officers to be trained to recognise antisemitism or whether applicants have promoted antisemitism.

Speaking at the summit, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson said police were “getting on top of” the “very limited number of people” prepared to carry out antisemitic attacks, referring to the spate of incidents across Sydney in the past few months.

Hudson said Strike Force Pearl detectives had arrested 13 people over antisemitic attacks, and a number of other investigations were close to being resolved: “We will hunt these people down with whatever resources it takes.”

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Jewish community is being bullied at the moment by cowards,” Hudson said.

“The police don’t tolerate what’s been happening. The government doesn’t tolerate what’s been happening, and we will bring the full force of what’s available to us to resolve these matters and give some comfort to the Jewish community.”

Sofilas was on Wednesday arrested and charged over the firebombing of two cars and the graffiti attack on Ryvchin’s former Dover Heights home on January 17.

He was already in custody after being charged with the alleged attempted arson of a Newtown synagogue attack when Strike Force Pearl detectives arrested him on Wednesday.

Sydney duo charged over alleged antisemitic attacks

Newtown synagogue attack, January 11: Leon Sofilas, 37, and Adam Moule, 33

Queens Park attack, January 11: Leon Sofilas, 37, and Adam Moule, 33

Dover Heights attack, January 17: Leon Sofilas, 37

Police will allege Sofilas and his co-accused in the Newtown synagogue attempted arson, 33-year-old Adam Moule, were also involved in an antisemitic vandalism attack in Queens Park on January 11 – the same day as the Newtown incident.

A week later, Dover Heights residents woke to the sound of the cars “exploding”. The current occupants of the home are not believed to be Jewish.

For his alleged role in the Dover Heights incident, Sofilas was charged with being an accessory before the fact to damaging property by means of fire or explosion.

Alex Ryvchin visited his former home hours after the attack.Credit: James Brickwood

The pair were both charged with being accessories before the fact to damaging property in company and participating in a criminal group.

The men will appear at Downing Centre Local Court on April 3.

Ryvchin, the second Jewish leader to be the subject of antisemitic abuse, sold the Dover Heights home in 2022.

Former Jewish Board of Deputies president Lesli Berger and his children returned home from holiday to find a swastika and antisemitic slurs graffitied on their Bellevue Hill home in December 2024.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.