Rise of anti-Semitism sees women take self-defence into their own hands

A self-defence gym in Sydney says it’s seen a ‘surge’ in interest from the Jewish community, particularly among women, amid increasing reports of anti-Semitism following Hamas’ attacks last month.

Rebecca Di Veroli at a women's Krav Maga self-defence class. The Bondi gym says it’s seen a "surge" of interest from the Jewish community amid increasing reports of anti-Semitism. Picture: Noah Yim / The Australian.

A self-defence gym has reported a “surge” in the number of Jewish Australians taking classes amid increasing reports of anti-Semitism.

On Wednesday night at The Boxing Academy in Sydney’s Bondi, instructor and co-owner Saar Markovitch welcomes about 25 women to the gym for a 10-week self-defence course.

Sydney’s eastern suburbs are home to one of the largest populations of Jewish Australians in the country.

Mr Markovitch, a former member of the Israel Defence Forces, said: “The Jewish community is feeling it very much … this anti-Semitism.

“We see a lot more people training in Krav Maga (an Israeli martial art), a lot more women coming these days.

“A lot more women – mothers not feeling safe and they’ve been exposed to more violence, at least verbal violence.”

Among the women is Rebecca Di Veroli. The teacher from Sydney’s eastern suburbs said she had organised a group of women to join the self-defence classes in the past few weeks.

Rebecca Di Veroli at a women‘s Krav Maga self-defence class. Picture: Noah Yim/The Australian

She added that she had been feeling unsafe, especially after her sister had been confronted while walking in her suburb.

“A couple of weeks ago now, she was walking in Vaucluse, just by her house,” she said.

“A group of people stopped the car, and they held their hands out the window in the shape of guns and said, ‘bang, bang, bang’ to her.

“She was obviously terrified and ran all the way back home.”

Di Veroli also said she had found interactions on social media confronting since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7.

“The constant attack on social media, I guess that’s the worst thing for me,” she said.

“Any posts that you put up, there’s just so much backlash. There’s so much harassment that you get, like ‘you support genocide’, ‘you support killing’, ‘how could you support an apartheid state?’

“It’s not even against Israel anymore. They’re like, ‘You f..king Jews, we’re going to kill you’. It’s all over social media, it’s terrifying to see.”

During the lessons at The ­Boxing Academy, Mr Markovitch runs the women through basic self-defence ­exercises.

They ­include low kicks to the groin and using open palms ­instead of fists.

Krav Maga was developed for the IDF in the last century for urban hand-to-hand combat and it’s known as a particularly pragmatic martial art.

The mood in the classes is upbeat. The women run and laugh. But Mr Markovitch reminds them that they need to work hard in the gym because self-defence in real life is harder.