Justice Michael Lee to speak at antisemitism summit

A famed judge will make his second prominent intervention in Sydney’s escalating antisemitism crisis — speaking at Sky News’ Anti-Semitism Summit.

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Prominent federal court judge Michael Lee will be a keynote speaker at an anti-Semitism summit in Sydney — marking the second time the imminent lawyer has intervened in the growing social cohesion crisis.

Justice Lee, who is famed as the judge who ruled over Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations in a defamation trial last year, is a Catholic but his wife Penny is of Jewish faith.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal Justice Lee will be speaking at Sky News Australia’s Anti-Semitism Summit, appearing alongside Executive Council of Australia Jewry’s Alex Ryvchin, NSW Premier Chris Minns, federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.

Justice Michael Lee attend Jewish House Gala. Picture: Britta Campion

The event will also include former prime minister John Howard, Australia’s Anti-Semitism Special Envoy Jillian Segal and survivors of the Holocaust.

Last November, Justice Lee made an extraordinary intervention in the anti-Semitism crisis, speaking at a Jewish fundraiser about how Australia has become a country he no longer recognises.

The deeply personal speech questioned whether Australian laws were going far enough to protect Jewish Australians.

“The growth and mainstreaming of antisemitism we have all seen emerge over the last 13 months must be tackled but understanding how it is to be tackled requires some understanding of how we got to where we are,” he said at the time.

Sky News presenter Sharri Marks will host the summit. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Summit host and Sky News presenter Sharri Markson welcomed Justice Lee’s involvement in the event and said the summit would focus on finding practical ways to end the scourge of antisemitism.

“Clearly political leaders have failed the Jewish community categorically,” she said.

“It started with hate speech from hate preachers and protesters, it’s now violent crimes and death threats.

“We need a summit, we need to think big picture, the discussion needs to be how we tackle antisemitism, what’s the education like in schooling, policing, law enforcement, judiciary.”

Ms Markson said initiatives like the summit would protect Australians values for future generations.

“I’m on Sky News every night fighting against this racism and campaigning for a peaceful future for our children and grandchildren,” she said.

“Otherwise the reality is there is no viable future for Jewish Australians.”

Sky News Antisemitism Summit is on 20 February at 1pm AEDT

Stream at SkyNews.com.au