Daughter of slain Bondi hero demands royal commission

Gutnick lambasted the government’s perceived reliance on the NSW commission, saying “this is not a state issue. It happened to occur on Sydney soil, but this can occur anywhere”.

“If [antisemitism is] not put a stop to, other states will be in the same situation,” Gutnick said.

Asked which government policies had “added fuel to the fire” of antisemitism, Gitnick said recognising “Palestine as an official state has been a massive gasoline [fuel] to the fire while Hamas is in power. And I think the biggest proof is a thank you letter from Hamas to the Albanese government for the recognition of the state tells you all it needs to say, yeah.“

A week after her father’s funeral, a neighbour of Gutnick’s in Melbourne whose car bore the words “happy Chanukah” was set alight. Gutnick also alluded to the arrest of a Western Australian man over alleged antisemitic social media posts as further need for the royal commission’s establishment.

“There we are in Sydney, and a couple days later I’m back in my home in Melbourne, and around the corner there’s a firebombing,” Gutnick said. “We have to live in constant fear when we are out in public with our children being wary of where the exits are in the case of something like this could occur … and now the rest of the world can see the repercussions of that.”

Gutnick was among 17 families that signed an open letter on Monday urging Albanese to establish the commission, saying Jewish Australians were owed accountability.

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“We demand answers and solutions,” the letter said. “We need to know why clear warning signs were ignored, how antisemitic hatred and Islamic extremism were allowed to dangerously grow unchecked, and what changes must be made to protect all Australians going forward.

Former Labor MP Mike Kelly on Monday joined the voices calling for a federal royal commission, telling Radio National they were “a time-honoured measure for when you need to do that deeper dive, contextual and systemic analysis.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told journalists in Albury on Saturday that the Jewish community was hearing “excuses” not action, from Albanese. The Liberal leader said the Coalition was willing to negotiate their proposed terms of reference for a royal commission in a bid for bipartisanship.

“With antisemitic incidents continuing, a firebombing in Melbourne, an alleged arrest for antisemitic hate online postings in Perth. The hatred that this Jewish community has seen over the past two years has escalated since October the 7th, demands action,” Ley said.

“Instead of moral courage from the prime minister, all we hear is moral confusion. The time to act is now.”

Nationals Leader David Littleproud on Monday said Albanese was “tone-deaf to a grieving nation” accusing him of being “contemptuous” to the families of victims of the attack.

“Unless you have a commonwealth royal commission, you’re not compelling the federal agencies to work with state agencies and to give all the evidence. And this is the frightening thing that the prime minister won’t face up to, that there were 15 Australians slaughtered on Bondi Beach,” Littleproud told Nine’s Today on Monday morning.

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