Safety fears and antisemitism concerns over Gaza

Australians sense a growing threat to community safety from the war in the Middle East despite the ceasefire in Gaza, with 51 per cent saying the conflict has made the country less safe amid rising concerns about racism and antisemitism.

An exclusive survey shows a surge in concern about the safety of Australians since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, rising from 36 per cent in November 2023 to the new high of 51 per cent in a survey taken over the past week.

The findings come after police intensified their arrests over a series of fire bombings and vandalism at Jewish centres including synagogues and schools, while authorities warn that “criminals for hire” are being paid in cryptocurrency to commit the crimes.

More than two-thirds of Australians now believe there is an increase in racism across the community, with 69 per cent saying there has been more racism and religious intolerance – up from 58 per cent who said the same last October.

Vision shows the moment a Maroubra childcare is engulfed in flames after an antisemitic attack.

Australians believe hatred of Jews is a bigger factor than similar intolerance of Muslims, with 54 per cent saying they think there has been more antisemitism and 9 per cent saying there is more Islamophobia.

The survey, conducted for this masthead by Resolve Strategic, reveals an increase in the concerns despite the ceasefire in Gaza, which was announced on January 19 and began with Israel suspending attacks and Hamas releasing Israeli hostages.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has blamed the government for the rise in threats to Jewish Australians, saying Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had not done enough to stop the threats.

“We’ve got kids going to Jewish schools being protected by armed guards and it is as a result of the prime minister’s inaction,” he said on Friday.

Albanese has condemned antisemitism but declined to comment on any security advice about police investigations into whether criminals were being hired on anonymous social media accounts and paid in cryptocurrency to commit the attacks.

“We want to hunt down these perpetrators. We want to see them face the full force of the law,” he said.

“People are being arrested. They’re being charged, and they’re still in the clink because they’re being denied bail. That’s appropriate.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with NSW Premier Chris Minns at the press conference held after the attack on the Maroubra childcare centre on Tuesday. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The Resolve Political Monitor surveyed 1616 people from January 15 to 21, a period that included widespread media coverage of the ceasefire as well as attention on police arrests of several suspects over attacks in Jewish communities.

“Australians have seen repeated attacks on people, places of worship, childcare centres, other businesses and property over the last year,” said Resolve director Jim Reed.

“The cumulative effect is that Australia seems a less safe, less inclusive place.

“Most worrying is that the scale and nature of the attacks are seen to be getting worse just as the root cause in the Middle East is being solved with the ceasefire and peace process.

“People are not only concerned that foreign conflicts are being imported, but that the local rifts might carry on regardless of what happens overseas.”

The 1616 respondents to the Resolve Political Monitor reflected the Australian population by location, gender, age and income. The findings have a margin of error of 2.4 per cent.

About one-third of voters said in November 2023 that they believed Australia was less safe because of the war in Gaza, when they were asked to agree or disagree with this statement: “The conflict in the Middle East has made Australia a less safe place.”

This concern increased steadily throughout last year and has now reached a majority view with 51 per cent support. Only 24 per cent say the overseas conflict has not made Australia less safe, while others are undecided.

When asked if there was a rise in racism and religious intolerance in Australia as a result of the Israel-Gaza conflict, 57 per cent agreed last March. This also increased through the year and reached its highest point to date, 69 per cent, in the survey taken over the last week.

The majority view was reflected across different voting groups in the latest survey: 67 per cent of Labor voters believed there was an increase in racism and intolerance, compared to 63 per cent of Greens voters and 76 per cent of Coalition voters.

Once the question about racism and intolerance was asked, the Resolve Political Monitor then asked the group that said “yes” – a subset of 1131 voters – whether they believed there was an increase in antisemitism or Islamophobia.

This found that 54 per cent of the subset believed there was an increase in antisemitism, up from 33 per cent in March 2024.

It also found that 9 per cent believed there was an increase in Islamophobia, down from 14 per cent last October and slightly down from 11 per cent in March 2024.

Voters are cautious about whether the ceasefire in Gaza will ease tensions at home, with 33 per cent saying the peace deal will make Australia safer but 28 per cent saying it will not and the rest being undecided.

There is a far greater consensus, however, on tougher action by federal authorities to punish the perpetrators of race-related crimes such as hate speech and property damage.

Asked if there should be mandatory sentencing for race-related crime, 70 per cent said yes and only 6 per cent said no, while the remainder were unsure.

This view was held strongly across voting cohorts, with 70 per cent support from Labor voters, 78 per cent from Coalition voters and 65 per cent from Greens voters.

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