Anti-Zionist Jewish voices pose a risk at Royal Commission

In the aftermath of Bondi, and following an agonising public conversation, the Albanese Government has agreed to a Royal Commission into antisemitism and social cohesion.

It is critical that our community gets this process right given the stakes are so high. Submissions from Jewish communal organisations should reflect deeply and widely-held community concerns, should be careful analytically and explicitly address risk.

The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) has expressed the intention to engage with the Commission, as is their right. However, public positions taken so far by the JCA and other anti-Zionist Jewish groups raise concerns about the nature and impact of their likely submissions.

Jewish and Palestinian anti-Zionist commentators have asserted that there is no possible relationship between the language of protest and the attack. "Zero evidence”, according to one commentator.

Such statements ignore the substantial literature linking speech and violence. The Dangerous Speech Project describes how speech “can increase the risk that its audience will condone or commit violence against members of another group”.  Extreme views propagated via  social media can lower the threshold for violence in primed individuals or “lone wolves”. A major review of 55 studies confirmed that exposure to hate leads to a climate of hostility, psychological harm and risk of violence.