Royal Commission: Antisemitism soars across Australia
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.
Australia correspondent Nomi Kaltmann joins host Gabriella Jacobs for today's episode.
A royal commission is Australia’s highest form of public inquiry, with sweeping powers to compel witnesses and documents.
Australia’s royal commission into antisemitism was established by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre in Sydney. Kaltmann discusses to what extent its findings can shape Australian law, policy and society.
Kaltmann describes how the hearings have become a rare public forum for Australian Jews to describe how antisemitism has reshaped life in the aftermath of the bloody October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel and the subsequent war against the terror group in Gaza.
She describes two weeks of hearings which are now nearing their conclusion, in which Jewish Australians and other witnesses gave evidence before the commission.
Kaltmann concludes by explaining the trajectory of the commission going forward and its conclusions thus far.
She remains uncertain whether the commission’s recommendations will, in actuality, stem the surge of antisemitism that Australian Jews have been witnessing of late.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. |
| 0:07.1 | Today is Thursday, May 21st, and I am your host, Gabriella Jacobs, here from our Jerusalem |
| 0:13.2 | studio. |
| 0:14.4 | Today, I'm going to be speaking with Nomi Kaltman, an Australian lawyer and journalist. |
| 0:20.1 | Welcome, Nomi. |
| 0:22.2 | Thanks to having me back. Of course. Nomi hasaltman, an Australian lawyer and journalist. Welcome, Nomi. Thanks to having me back. |
| 0:30.2 | Of course. Nomi has been closely following the Australian Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Over the past few months, the commission has heard tons of evidence and testimony, but many questions still remain as to what it can achieve and whether |
| 0:39.8 | it will lead to meaningful change. Over the past few weeks specifically, the Commission has |
| 0:44.8 | focused on hearing the testimonies of Jewish Australians on their experiences following October 7th. |
| 0:52.2 | So, Nomi, before we talk about what's been going on the past few weeks, |
| 0:56.0 | can you give us a brief background on what exactly the commission is, what its goals are and where |
| 1:01.6 | we are in the process right now? So a Royal Commission is Australia's highest form of public inquiry. |
| 1:08.9 | It's usually headed by like a super subject expert, someone who's got |
| 1:13.7 | very deep knowledge or most often a retired judge. High court in Australia has a retirement age. |
| 1:20.3 | I think it's 70 offhand, so high court judges will often head these commissions and they've got |
| 1:25.6 | sweeping powers. So they can investigate matters of public law, of public importance. |
| 1:34.0 | The kind of royal commissions that we've seen in Australia in the last few years |
| 1:37.3 | have been like on institutional child sex abuse, |
| 1:40.8 | looking at different religions and different institutions |
| 1:43.3 | and how they handled child |
| 1:44.6 | sex abuse. We had a banking Royal Commission scandal-ridden banks in Australia. So the Royal |
| 1:50.8 | Commission into anti-Semitism and social cohesion, it was a bit of a fight to get here. In the immediate |
... |
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