Sky News anti-Semitism summit in Sydney has heard from leaders calling for changes

Australian Jewish leaders have called for both major parties to declare a national emergency and endorse a comprehensive anti-Semitism action plan.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin, rounded out an anti-Semitism conference on Thursday by calling on all Australians to “condemn anti-Semitism wherever you see it”.

The list of actions to address anti-Semitism spans schools and universities, the arts, immigration laws and religious and charity groups.

Surmising the major practical steps speakers had raised at the summit, Mr Ryvchin said the federal government should declare a national anti-Semitism emergency, and create a joint task force “before a major terrorist attack”.

Anti-Semitism awareness should be taught in schools, plus a national campaign should be created educating the public on the realities and dangers of hateful speech, he said.

A national ban on university encampments should be enacted, along with a judicial inquiry into university anti-Semitism to investigate “foreign funding of protests”.

Religious institutions should have their charity status revoked for anti-Semitic conduct, Mr Ryvchin said.

Echoing points made by Peter Dutton, immigration staff should be trained to identify anti-Semitism and the Migration Act amended to allow visa revocations.

Social media algorithms needed to be regulated and scrutinised to unearth “foreign interference” pushing hatred, and arts festivals should have public funding withdrawn for hateful or one-sided programming, he said.

SEND A MESSAGE

Peter Dutton has vowed to backdate changes to visa laws to deport people deemed to have made anti-Semitic statements if he wins the upcoming federal election.

The Opposition Leader made the comments at a Sky News anti-Semitism summit at the Central Synagogue Sydney on Thursday.

Mr Dutton said if he become Prime Minister in the coming months, the Migration Act would be changed so anti-Semitism was grounds for visa refusal.

“When I was immigration minister we deported 6000 people – bikies, people who sexually assaulted children – and it sent a message.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has spoken with Sky News host Sharri Markson in a wide-ranging interview at the Sky News Antisemitism Summit where they discussed critical issues being seen in Australia today. Mr Dutton was greeted by a huge applause as he entered the summit. The Sky News Antisemitism Summit was co-organised and hosted by award-winning Sky News investigative journalist Sharri Markson, together with Co-Chief Executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin. The timely summit brings together current and former political leaders, law enforcement chiefs, policymakers, legal experts, and Jewish community leaders, to discuss and develop tangible solutions to combat the rising tide of antisemitism. This video is from Sky News Australia's Antisemitism Summit, which is available to watch in full on-demand with a SkyNews.com.au Streaming Subscription.

Stream the Sky News Antisemitism Summit at SkyNews.com.au/AntisemitismSummit.

Mr Dutton said reforms to the Migration Act character test to cancel visas would be extended back to October 7, 2023.

He claimed the government was “fast-tracking” citizenships to get votes in the upcoming election.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday the immigration department will hold three days of citizenship ceremonies in Sydney Olympic Park this weekend, conferring citizenship on as many as 6000 new Australians in electorates Labor is desperate to hold.

“Why would you bring people in from a war-zone on a tourism visa … why would you expressly push people through the process to citizenship?”

Ostracism and targeting of Jewish Australians, today, would extend to other groups in the future, Mr Dutton said.

DREYFUS FACES HECKLING

Australia’s highest ranking Jewish politician has been heckled at an anti-Semitism conference in a Sydney synagogue.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’ father escaped Nazi Germany, and three of his great-grandparents died in the Holocaust.

Mr Dreyfus cited the Adass Israel Synagogue firebombing, the caravan explosives find and vandalism of politicians’ offices as particular “affronts to our national conscious”.

A section of the synagogue crowd heckled the Attorney-General when he said his government stood with Jewish Australians.

“The Australian government has consistently denounced words of hatred against Jewish Australians,” he said.

Mr Dreyfus cited reform to anti-discrimination laws, including the banning of Nazi salutes and symbols, plus the outlawing of terrorism symbols.

Mentioning this reform garnered applause from the crowd.

Mr Dreyfus continued with a long list of responses the government has taken; inquiries into anti-Semitism on university campuses, an Australian Federal Police taskforce, funding for Holocaust remembrance, and funding to the Adass Israel Synagogue to replace valuable Torah burned in the attack in December.

Labor Attorney-General and Jewish MP Mark Dreyfus has been heckled while talking at the Sky News Antisemitism Summit after stating the federal government stands with Jewish Australians. "The Australian government stands with Jewish Australians in the fight against antisemitism," Mr Dreyfus said at the summit before facing some jeers and boos. Mr Dreyfus faced further heckling when he later said the Albanese government has acted in addressing antisemitism. The summit brought together current and former political leaders, law enforcement chiefs, policymakers, legal experts, and Jewish community leaders, to discuss and develop tangible solutions to combat the rising tide of antisemitism. This video is from Sky News Australia's Antisemitism Summit, which is available to watch in full on-demand with a SkyNews.com.au Streaming Subscription.

“Combating anti-Semitism does not belong to the left or the right. To the progressive side or the conservative side of Australian politics,” he said.

“Further division will not help. It will do more harm.”

“Anti-Semitism tears at the heart of our values as a nation … anti-Semitism cannot, and must not, be weaponised in the pursuit of votes.

“It must not be weaponised in the pursuit of newspaper sales and ratings either.”

SURVIVORS SPEAK

Australian Holocaust survivors say hate speech laws need to be strengthened.

Gretha Okhuysen, Eddy Boas and Mimi Wise were given a few minutes to speak at the Sky News’ anti-Semitism summit on Thursday.

Germany invaded Holland three months after Mr Boas was born. Mr Boas came to Australia in 1954 “as far away from Europe as possible” because his mother was fearful of another Holocaust.

His mother took a cleaning job at the Coogee Hotel.

“I don’t believe multiculturalism has worked in Australia,” Mr Boas said when prompted by host Danica De Giorgio.

“For people to come out here now, and want to live their old life here … send them back to where they came from.”

Mr Boas explained when he and non-Jewish friends were growing up in Sydney, no one asked or cared about a person’s religion.

Ms Okhuysen said at the moment, friends were warning her not to wear a Star of David pendant in public.

She was born in 1941, and taken by police to a concentration camp in 1944. Ms Okhuysen went through three camps, and ended up in the Czech Republic.

Ms Okhuysen told the audience laws protecting Jewish freedoms in Australia were not strong enough.

‘HOW HAS IT GOT TO THIS’

Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg started his speech by telling Holocaust survivors in attendance he would not let their past become the future for Jewish Australians.

“Mark Twain famously said, ‘those who don’t read the media are uniformed. And those who do read the media are misinformed’,” before thanking Sky News reporter Sharri Markson for her coverage of anti-Semitism in Australia and abroad.

“How has it got to this? Here in Australia, thousands and thousands of kilometres away from the scenes of Hamas’ brutal attack, that we, members of Australia’s Jewish community, feel so unsafe?

Former Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg spoke at the Sky News Antisemitism Summit urging there is “no time to waste” in fighting this prejudice in our “own backyard”. The timely summit will bring together current and former political leaders, law enforcement chiefs, policymakers, legal experts, and Jewish community leaders. “Things are moving fast and if we stand still, we will fall further behind,” Mr Frydenberg said. This video is from Sky News Australia's Antisemitism Summit, which is available to watch in full on-demand with a SkyNews.com.au Streaming Subscription.

“The firebombings, the violent protests, the anti-Semitism and hate over the last 17 months … Hitler would be proud,” he said, referencing statements made by former governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove.

“Friends, adversity is our window of opportunity,” Mr Frydenberg said, citing a suite of criminal reforms protecting religious freedoms in Australia.

But Mr Frydenberg said these reforms were reactive, and likened anti-Semitism in Australia to pouring water out of a leaking boat.

“It’s an early sign that society is breaking down. How else can you expect reputable organisations and reputable people defending the Bankstown nurses by saying they were making a joke?,” he said.

“With such moral blindness, it’s no wonder that our houses of learning have become hotbeds of hate. That the anti-racists have become racists. And that the progressives have become regressives.

“The disease of intolerance is spreading and infecting so many across our country, particularly the young.

“It’s time to mobilise the majority. To take back the stage from the loud minority, who have grabbed the microphone and are defending the indefensible … it is time to reinstate pride in our education.”

“It will only be a matter of time before another minority across our country is targeted next. The knock-on effect of anti-Semitism is real.

“Combating anti-Semitism is not just the Jewish fight, it is Australia’s fight … there is no time to waste. Things are moving fast and if we stand still we will fall further behind.”

Mr Frydenberg challenged all Australians to ask themselves if they were doing enough to combat anti-Semitism.

“I say to every Australian, given the events of the last 17 months, if not now, when? And if not you, who?”

Mr Frydenberg used the speech to speak about his new foundation which has been set up to tackle anti-Semitism at universities.

‘NOT A RELIC’

Israel’s ambassador to Australia said the sights and smells of the firebombed Melbourne synagogue reminded him of the European concentration camps.

Ambassador Amir Maimon questioned why Israeli media has asked for more interviews than Australian media amid a spate of anti-Semitic attacks.

“We have learnt the lessons of the Holocaust. We built the nation of Israel as a shield,” he told the summit.

Mr Maimon said after the holocaust the world “turned their back” on the Jews, and “we will not let that happen again”.

“To the Jewish community of Australia … Israel stands with you. Anti-Semitism is not a relic of the past,” he said.

“We will not allow hatred and terror to prevail.”

‘AUSTRALIAN VALUES’

Australia’s first special envoy to combat anti-Semitism says Jewish Australians are feeling vulnerable.

Jillian Segal said Australians deserved to know where the “pernicious virus of anti-Semitism” was coming from”.

“Other countries, particularly in Europe, have been doing for some time … I was appointed some time after other envoys were appointed in Europe,” she said.

Ms Segal wanted a proactive plan in place to combat it, like how authorities addressed the pandemic.

“If external forces are orchestrating matters to undermine our way of life … it is terrorism.”

“This is not a partisan issue.

“It is an affront to all Australia’s … anti-Semitism has no place in our society.

“Other democracies have a strategic anti-Semitism plan, and we need one.

“There is no time to waste if we want our Australian values to triumph and our Australian way of life to prosper.”

MINNS LAMENTS TERRIBLE SUMMER

NSW Premier Chris Minns has been applauded for his response to the spate of anti-Semitic attacks in the past months.

The Premier took the stage at Central Synagogue Sydney on Thursday for Sky News’ anti-Semitism summit.

“I know this has been a terrible summer for the Jewish community in NSW,” he said.

“Over the past few months, we’ve seen things we thought we would never see in Australia in 2025,” he said, citing attacks on synagogues in Sydney and Melbourne.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns says the Jewish people have "an inner strength that in unbreakable". Mr Minns spoke at the Sky News Antisemitism Summit which was co-organised and hosted by award-winning Sky News investigative journalist Sharri Markson, together with Co-Chief Executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin. The timely summit brings together current and former political leaders, law enforcement chiefs, policymakers, legal experts, and Jewish community leaders. This video is from Sky News Australia's Antisemitism Summit, which is available to watch in full on-demand with a SkyNews.com.au Streaming Subscription.

“There are Jewish kids who are no longer catching the bus to school in the morning. There are kids who are hiding their school uniforms in public. This is a public disgrace.”

In stark contrast to heckles the federal Attorney-General received just minutes earlier, the attendees were quick to applaud Mr Minns’ spirited speech.

“The only people who can cure anti-Semitism are the people in the cultures who harbour it,” Mr Minns said.

“Anti-Semitism is a particularly corrosive form of hate.

“NSW has been the home for Jews ever since eight Jews sailed here on the First Fleet … Australia has prospered as a result of Jewish migration.

“Our country owes a great debt to Jewish Australians. And now it’s time for us to have your back, and cast anti-Semitism into the garbage bin of history where it belongs.”

Mr Minns cited the new criminal offence targeting the display of Nazi symbols near synagogues, and the new offence of intimidating people around places of worship, as evidence of his government’s response.

“This campaign of anti-Semitism must fail. And this campaign of anti-Semitism will fail,” he said.

“The Jewish people have an inner strength that is unbreakable … if you attempt this kind of menace, the police will track you down, and throw the book at you.”

HOWARD LAUDS JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN VALUES

Former prime minister John Howard says Australia should hold Judaeo-Christian values dear, in his address to Sky News anti-Semitism summit in Sydney.

Mr Howard said when Australia departs from Judaeo-Christian values, we depart from “our moral title deeds”, which is “deeply offensive to me”.

“Treasure those moral title deeds. They are so important.”

Former Australian prime minister John Howard has claimed antisemitism in Australia is “not something that could be allowed to just fester”. The Sky News Antisemitism Summit has been co-organised and hosted by award-winning Sky News investigative journalist Sharri Markson, together with Co-Chief Executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin. The timely summit brings together current and former political leaders, law enforcement chiefs, policymakers, legal experts, and Jewish community leaders. This video is from Sky News Australia's Antisemitism Summit, which is available to watch in full on-demand with a SkyNews.com.au Streaming Subscription.

Mr Howard went on to say conflict in Iraq, during his Prime Ministership, urged him to caution against Islamophobia in Australia.

The event has been organised by Sky News, which is owned by the publisher of NewsWire, alongside the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

A leading Australian Rabbi told the summit crowd, anti-Semitism was a cancer in our society.

Central Synagogue Sydney Rabbi Levi Wolff said on Thursday the repeated instances of Jewish hatred in Australia went against the values of this country.

“Anti-Semitism is not just an issue for Jewish Australians, it’s a matter for everyone … it’s un-Australian.

“We hope this summit serves as an end to this cancer in our society.”

Rabbi Wolff questioned whether music, arts and medicine are sectors safe for Jewish Australians.

“We have actually had enough of talking, it’s time for action. The intention of this summit is to deliver on just that.”

The summit comes after months of escalating graffiti incidents particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, where synagogues, Jewish businesses and homes have been vandalised and in some cases, cars set alight. Much of the vandalism contained explicit anti-Semitic messaging.

Attendees of the summit have been handed orange ribbons for two red-headed Israeli children who died, along with their mother, in the captivity of Hamas. Shiri Bibas and her sons, four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kfir, were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Sky News host Sharri Markson has organised the summit with Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive, Alex Ryvchin.

Markson travelled to Israel to report on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack, securing a private meeting – the details of which were not reported – with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The former Sydney residence of Mr Ryvchin was attacked on January 17; two vehicles were firebombed and the house was graffitied. A 37-year-old man was charged for his alleged involvement on Thursday, and already faced charges with a co-accused man for the attempted firebombing of a synagogue, and for alleged anti-Semitic graffiti, earlier in January.