Regional tourist hotspot Byron Bay ‘at war’ amid spike in anti-Semitism
Jewish families facing devastating doxxings and appearing on “mass-circulated boycott lists” are learning self-defence or fleeing the communities they call home, amid a shocking rise in anti-Semitism creeping out of cities and into regional Australia.
NSW
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Jewish families facing devastating doxxings and appearing on “mass-circulated boycott lists” are learning self-defence or fleeing the communities they call home amid a shocking rise in anti-Semitism in regional Australia.
As NSW Police descend on Sydney’s eastern suburbs in a show of force to stamp out targeted anti-Semitic attacks, Jewish leaders have revealed to The Saturday Telegraph the holiday haven of Byron Bay is “at war” and descending into chaos as fearful families prepare to pack up and leave.
“Byron was once a relaxed, tourist town,” Northern Rivers Jewish Community Association head Annalee Atia said. “But this community is now at war with itself.
“We know of people who are actively campaigning and spreading disgusting messages of hate against Jewish families in the community.
“They are hosting anti-Israeli events. There is a growing Jewish business boycott list. It is completely devastating”.
Ms Atia said she had been doxxed by members of her own community.
The Saturday Telegraph has seen evidence of multiple Jewish business boycott lists, as well as anti-Semitic graffiti scattered across the tourist town. One example in recent weeks includes a massive yellow swastika spray-painted in the heart of Byron, alongside signs which claim: “Isreael (sic) burns babies”.
“My kids are born here, we love this place and the majority of the people – but it’s longer safe,” Ms Atia said. “So many are fearful for our lives, we are taking self defence classes, my Jewish friends are studying French in order to disguise where we are from.
“We have people renting out their homes or selling up and fleeing Australia. They don’t want to be in the community because of this rise in anti-Semitic attacks.
“The local Jewish community is resilient and under the circumstances, community members have been amazing at taking care of each other. But we have seen a direct link between lack of leadership on anti-Semitism from local and federal government and other institutions and certain actions taken by these (such as condemning Israel but not other conflicts), leading to increased impacts in communities on the ground.”
Special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, confirmed Jewish-Australian families had told her they were preparing to pack up their lives and leave their homes if attacks escalated.
“There are instances of community members who do feel extremely threatened and unsafe because that’s what terrorism is about, it is to terrorise people and to make them feel unsafe, and they’re looking to leave,” she said.
The special envoy, appointed by the Albanese government in July, said parents were fearful about sending their children to school, university, and overseas: “that’s shameful”.
“I have experienced anti-Semitism in small ways, small insults, comments and how you look, and this kind of stuff,” she said. “But I’ve never experienced the sort of anti-Semitism that everyday Jewish Australians are experiencing, it’s more extreme than ever before, it’s certainly escalated dramatically and it must be condemned.”
Byron Bay business owner Yonit Oakley said she was aware her shop had been listed on multiple “Israeli business boycott lists”.
“A member of the community approached one of my employees before questioning her repeatedly about where she and her parents were born,” Ms Oakley said.
“Members of our own community are even targeting Australian-born residents because of where their parents are from.
“They told her they were adding our small business, a locally run, Australian business, to a boycott list.”
“A member of the community approached one of my employees before questioned her repeatedly about where she and her parents were born,” Ms Oakley said.
“Members of our own community are even targeting Australian-born residents because of where their parents are from.
“They told her they were adding our small business, a locally-run, AustraliFan business, to a boycott list.”
She said Jewish communities across the northern rivers had sounded the alarm over incidents of doxxing, where personal details are released publicly.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the organisation had reported incidents of doxxing and Jewish business boycott lists, as well as a growing list of anti-Semitic incidents in regional communities, to NSW Police.
The Jewish leader said Sydney families had expressed fears the mezuzah – a parchment featuring Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jews affix in a small case to the doorposts of their homes, was placing a target on places “families should feel safe”.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Michele Goldman doubled down on the rise in anti-Semitism across the state amid a laundry list of incidents reported to the organisation since the Melbourne Synagogue terror attack earlier this month.
“Jewish people have been working and contributing to this nation since the First Fleet, we’ve never seen this kind of open bigotry and hatred before,” she said.
“This goes beyond the Jewish community, when places of worship are being burnt down and threats of violence are being chanted openly, our nation’s multicultural values are under attack.
“It is simply outrageous and beyond intolerable that this week we saw groups who felt entirely safe to chant slogans on the streets of Sydney calling for the massacre of another group of Australians.”
Ms Goldman said while Jewish people were “proud to call Australia home … there are growing fears about where this escalating campaign of targeted harassment and incitement could lead”.
In recent months the organisation has received a dramatic rise in anti-Semitic incident reports.
It is understood police and council workers have repeatedly removed anti-Semitic graffiti across Byron over the past 12 months.
NSW Police said it had planned high-visibility patrols of key locations across the Northern Rivers region.
“NSW Police will not tolerate any behaviour that incites, or advocates violence or hatred based on race and religion,” a spokesman said.
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