‘Disturbing parallels’: Holocaust survivors president says exclusion of Jews from public life similar to Nazi Germany

George Foster tells royal commission Australia’s democratic institutions fundamentally different, ‘but I can’t ignore certain disturbing parallels in the social atmosphere’

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A rise in antisemitism across Australia has “disturbing parallels” with the social climate of Nazi Germany, the president of the Australian Holocaust survivors association says.

George Foster, the president of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, told the antisemitism royal commission that he did not believe Australia was “becoming another Germany in the 1930s”.

“Australia’s democratic institutions, legal system and civilian civil society are fundamentally different,” he said on Tuesday.

“However … I can’t ignore certain disturbing parallels in the social atmosphere.

“For example, the exclusion of Jews from parts of public life, the normalisation of antisemitic language, dehumanising descriptions of Jews, conspiracy theories, the resurgence of antisemitic tropes, attacks on Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses, and fear about displaying Jewish identity publicly.”

The royal commission’s fifth block of hearings, held in Melbourne this week, is examining security arrangements for the Jewish community.

It heard from community leaders at synagogues and Jewish schools, who described a rise in antisemitic incidents since October 2023, which had led some Jewish Australians to leave to live in Israel.

Foster came to Australia in 1947 after being born in Hungary to Holocaust survivors after the second world war. He said he was shocked by a protest on the steps of the Sydney Opera House two days after Hamas’s attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.

“We heard expletives, and you know vilification of Jews to a point which shocked me, and I know much, if not all, of the Jewish community. I never thought that I would see such a thing in this country,” he said on Monday.

Following the protest, New South Wales police said an independent expert had concluded the chants “Where’s the Jews?” and “Fuck the Jews” were used.

Foster, the president of the Southern Sydney Synagogue, described several antisemitic attacks at the site, including an arson attack in 1991 during the first Iraq war, but said the atmosphere had changed since then.

“There wasn’t the overt vilification of the Jewish people then, and I think because of that it was easier for us to come to terms with and move forward after that incident,” he said.

Following a 2025 incident in which swastikas were painted on its walls, the synagogue installed a security fence.

The royal commission heard from several representatives of synagogues and schools subject to alleged antisemitic attacks since October 2023, including some which could not be discussed in detail because they were the subject of ongoing criminal proceedings.

Benjamin Klein, the president of the Adass Israel synagogue in south-east Melbourne, which was built by Holocaust survivors, described the “devastating” impact of an arson attack in December 2024. Asio has alleged the attack was directed by the Iranian government.

“The synagogue is a place where you celebrate all your milestones. So from when a baby’s born until he cuts his hair for the first time, to his bar mitzvah, to when he gets married, to when he has his kids,” Klein said.

“To have that taken away, and simply for the reason that … you’re Jewish … is quite devastating to say the least.”

Klein told the royal commission the synagogue had applied unsuccessfully for government grants for security prior to the attack and now employed a staff member to manage grant applications.

The commission heard that two schools in Melbourne, Mount Scopus Memorial college and Bialik college, charged parents security levies in addition to fees, which had increased significantly since October 2023.

Dan Sztrajt, the principal of Mount Scopus, established in 1949 by Holocaust survivors, said the school had recorded 131 antisemitic incidents targeting the campus or students since January 2022.

They included the school being graffitied with the words “Jew die” in May 2024, and an incident at a swimming carnival in which a student at another school allegedly approached a year 8 student and “perform[ed] a number of Nazi salutes, yelling out Hitler and jumping up and down to try and intimidate the student before a race”.

Tyson Wodak, the president of Bialik college, said the school had changed its uniform policy after 7 October 2023 so children no longer wore uniforms on excursions.

“I don’t want more security funding. I want less need for security,” he said.

The chief rabbi of Sydney’s Central synagogue, Levi Wolff, told the royal commission he received “almost daily” threats and abuse after his public profile was raised following the Bondi terror attack in late 2025.

He described an incident following the shootings which killed 15 people during a Hanukah festival. Wolff said a member of the community posted him a mezuzah, a parchment scroll with Hebrew verses that is normally affixed to the entrance of Jewish homes, with a note that read: “I’m afraid to have this on my door.”

Wolff said: “No one should have to have courage to simply place a symbol of their faith on the doorpost of their very own home.”