Melbourne-based actor joins calls to ban doxxing after pro-Palestine activists target Jewish artists

A Jewish actor who was among hundreds of people who had their personal details leaked by Pro-Palestine activists wants the federal government to take action.

Sarah-Jane Feiglin says she has been pushed out of Melbourne’s arts scene and shamed for supporting the Jewish homeland. Picture: Supplied

Melbourne-based actor and screenwriter Sarah-Jane Feiglin’s career is at a “standstill”.

As one of 600 Jewish artists, writers and performers who had their personal details leaked in a mass doxxing, Ms Feiglin says she has been pushed out of Melbourne’s arts scene and shamed for supporting the Jewish homeland.

Pro-Palestine activists leaked 900 pages of transcript from a private WhatsApp chat group earlier this month, claiming the messages showed the contributors supported “genocide” in Gaza.

The online spreadsheet has since been labelled a “Jew list” by Jewish leaders.

Ms Feiglin was one of 600 Jewish artists, writers and performers who had their personal details leaked in a mass doxxing. Picture: Supplied

Ms Feiglin – speaking out to give her fellow community members a voice – described the group chat of hundreds of artists, writers and performers as a “lifeline” during a dark time for the Jewish community following Hamas October 7 massacre.

“We had lost our community,” she said.

“I was ejected from a theatre course after I complained about the antisemitism I was facing.”

Ms Feiglin said the reaction from her peers, some of whom she said “celebrated” October 7, had left her “at a standstill”.

“I haven’t been able to write, I haven’t been able to perform.”

The actor has joined calls from Jewish leaders and federal MPs for the Australian government to ban doxxing – publishing identifying information about a person or group with malicious intent – and to properly enforce current laws around online harassment.

Frustrated with the lack of protection for the Jewish community, Ms Feiglin said the Albanese government had “allowed this doxxing to happen”.

“Although there are already provisions in the commonwealth criminal code which are intended to protect against doxxing, these laws are not effective,” she said.

“They need to be expanded to also cover those who incite others to use a variable service to harass, menace or offend as the online activists are currently doing.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry is calling for reform of the Criminal Code to stamp out the “abhorrent practice” and for social media platforms “to permanently deactivate the accounts of those found to have used their accounts for the purposes of doxxing”.

ECAJ president Daniel Aghion KC said the widespread doxxing of community members had been done “with co-ordination and with malice” and had resulted in harassment, death threats, professional and financial loss and vandalism of businesses.

“The individuals responsible for this are engaged in practices synonymous with the

Nazi era,” he said.

Mr Albanese condemned the online attack, saying the targeting of Jewish-Australians “has got to stop”.

“The targeting of people because they happen to be Jewish is just completely unacceptable,” Albanese said.

“It must stop.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled the attack ‘completely unacceptable’. Picture: Martin Ollman

Asked if his government would support the crossbench push to criminalise doxxing, Mr Albanese said: “Absolutely we will”.

The Prime Minister said he had asked Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to bring forward legislation in response to the Privacy Act review, including laws that address doxxing.

“The idea that in Australia, someone should be targeted because of their religion, because of their faith, whether they be Jewish or Muslim or Hindu or Catholic or Buddhist, is just completely unacceptable,” Mr Albanese told 2GB.

“That’s why I’ve asked, as well, the Attorney-General to develop proposals to strengthen laws against hate speech, which we will be doing.

“This is not the Australia that we want to see.”

Mr Albanese said the 600 people in the affected WhatsApp group were providing support to each other because of the rise in anti-semitism.

He said they had a range of views about the Middle East but what they had in common was that they were members of the Jewish community.

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed Jewish residents of Melbourne’s northern suburbs were moving south due to “antisemitic attacks” on local families and businesses.

Victorian organisations with employees targeted by the anti-Israel activists are also being urged by Jewish leaders not to bow down to “hateful extremists”.

Federal Labor MP Josh Burns said the doxxing had “shaken the Jewish community to its core”, adding those responsible “must be held accountable”.

“People have been intimidated, bullied, harassed, people have been threatened, people have faced death threats, people have been forced to go into hiding,” he said.

Teal MP for Goldstein Zoe Daniel, who represents one of Victoria’s largest Jewish populations, said she was engaging with the federal government on measures to combat antisemitism.

She said the targeting of Jewish businesses and the threats and violence was reminiscent of “the evil events of the 1930s that led directly to the Holocaust”.

Concerns were also raised about a lack of enforcement of the current laws created to protect Australians online.

President of the Zionist Federation of Australia and Partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler Jeremy Leibler, said producing a “Jew list” was clearly “illegal online harassment”.

“While the government should review whether the current legal framework is fit for purpose, right now we need the police to enforce the existing legal framework,” he said.

Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler says the current laws must be enforced effectively.

“We would support any appropriate proposal to strengthen our laws, but nothing should get in the way of the police prosecuting those ‘activists’ harassing Jews online and I encourage individuals who have been impacted not to be intimidated and to pursue all possible legal avenues.”

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the government was committed to protecting the safety of Australians.

“The increasing use of online platforms to harm people through the malicious release of their personal and private information is a deeply disturbing development,” Mr Dreyfus said.

“The recent targeting of members of the Australian Jewish community through doxing was shocking, but sadly a far from isolated event.

“We live in a vibrant multicultural society that we should always strive to protect. No Australian should be targeted because of their race or religion.”

The government is expected to create a new criminal offence for the malicious use of Australians’ personal and private information as soon as possible.

This will be in addition to the stronger privacy protections being developed following a review of the Privacy Act last year.

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson said the doxxing attack was “not only an abhorrent breach of privacy but constitutes blatant antisemitism”.

“The Coalition will consider any measure to strengthen protections for Australians online, including protections relating to the release of personal information,” she said.

“We are happy to work with the government and community to ensure the legal framework is fit for purpose.”