Speaking at a parliamentary inquiry into Antisemitism in NSW last week, Moriah College principal Miriam Hasofer warned that in 2025 “open antisemitism targeting schoolchildren has become ambient”.

“What was once repugnantly un-Australian has become disturbingly routine,” Hasofer told the inquiry.

“The unacceptable has been normalised. Thirty years after I graduated, I now stand at Moriah's gates each morning welcoming students and checking in with our security team….”

The school now operates with two extra layers of security protection provided by Community Security Group NSW and New South Wales police, the principal reported.

“…but I still stand there alert, watchful, on edge, and no school principal in this country should have to do that,” Hasofer said.

 “…Something has been unleashed. Antisemitism found its voice – loud, unashamed and emboldened…”

The school community had endured nearly two years of “relentless, targeted abuse”, Hasofer said, noting that recently a girl in Year 9 was chased along Queens Park Road by a woman repeatedly shouting, "Eff the Jews. Effing c-word. Free Palestine".

“This was a child walking to school. She was terrified,” the principal said.

In early June two men exited a vehicle near the college and spat in the direction of the campus, before proceeding to make “obscene gestures” and exposing themselves on the school’s security cameras, she added.

These were “rude, vile and targeted, meant to intimidate Jewish children,” Hasofer said.

The principal also noted an online attack that occurred in October 2023, when an anonymous message was sent to Moriah’s Instagram. It read, "Your school is nothing but a disgrace. I hope all the children, parents and staff get cancer and die a slow, painful death. Praise Hitler,” Hasofer reported.

“These are a handful of many incidents. Each one is horrific on its own, but together they form a relentless drip-feed of hate.”

The cumulative impact of antisemitic attacks – which were occurring on average once a week now – had been “corrosive”, the school leader said, with students’ education constantly disrupted and teachers drained.

“….How do we respond at school? We drop everything. Security is activated. Psychologists and heads of year are deployed. We comfort students, call families, write reports, put together briefs, and then try returning to the teaching until it happens again, days later.

“…Our wellbeing team is overstretched. Our leaders are operating like a counterterrorism unit. This has become our normal.”

Linda Emms, principal of Emanuel School in Sydney, also detailed the harrowing impact that antisemitic attacks and the resulting ‘climate of fear’ was having on her students and school community, indicating the wellbeing of many staff had been put at risk.

“Jewish and non-Jewish staff alike have expressed fears about being identified as working at a Jewish school, and they report changing their behaviour to conceal their association with the Jewish institution.

“Some teachers have said that when catching Ubers to school, they pretend they're going elsewhere and get dropped around the corner, or they change their pick-up location to a distance of a block from the school…” Emms told the inquiry.

A plan to combat antisemitism unveiled by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday will see Australia’s antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal, pictured, work with the Federal Government to potentially withhold funding from universities that fail to squash hatred against Jewish students. PHOTO: AAP

The behaviour being experienced by staff and students goes beyond racism and discrimination, the principal added.

“The behaviour being exhibited is that of targeted hate simply for being Jewish. The perpetrators of these comments and actions towards students are sometimes adults and often like-aged peers.

“It is occurring as students travel to and from school, in public places before and after school, on the sporting field and online. I ask you to consider the impact on an 11-year-old child of being taunted with comments of "Heil Hitler" on the sporting field. This is the experience of my students,” Emms said.

The problem has far wider roots, however, with “clear signs of a serious breakdown in social cohesion” that is changing school networks across NSW, the principal flagged.

“After October 7, all of our interfaith programs stopped, almost immediately. Despite our outreach and efforts to engage in constructive dialogue, including through the Association of Independent Schools of New South Wales – our professional body – schools of other faith backgrounds have not been willing to engage with us.”

Just one school in the eastern suburbs had re-engaged with Emanuel School to promote interfaith dialogue this year, Emms reported.

“This is something I could never have imagined happening among schools in New South Wales.

“In distancing from Jewish day schools, our educators are teaching a new generation of Australians to hate, shun and fear other students because of their faith and culture, and it will have lasting consequences for the fabric of our society in New South Wales and in Australia more broadly…”

Emms called on schools, teachers and community to promte tolerance of diverse believes and to build understanding amongst students.

“If we do not teach them this now, we will normalise antisemitism, racism, stereotyping and hate for diverse others.

“This should be a concern to everyone, and we need to urgently invest in programs that correct this course so that we can chart a different way forward together…”

The inquiry committee will report by September 1.

Meanwhile, a plan to combat antisemitism unveiled by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday will see Australia’s antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal work with the Federal Government to potentially withhold funding from universities that fail to squash hatred against Jewish students, monitor the coverage of media publishers, and screen visa applicants for antisemitic views.

The plan states that antisemitism erodes “the very foundations of a thriving democracy” and “poses a threat not just to Jewish Australians, but to our entire nation.”

It recommends embedding Holocaust and anti-Semitism education in national and state school curricula, in co-ordination with government, Catholic and independent school bodies, and an enhancement of teachings around Jewish history, identity, culture and anti-Semitism in high school curricula.

Pro-Palestinian writer and activist Omar Sakr said adopting the recommendations would lead to further silencing people who supported the Palestinian cause.

The report’s suggested measures were so wide-ranging they amounted to “extraordinary overreach”, he said.

“It’s beyond clear that the end goal of this strategy is a kind of cultural apartheid and it aims for a total stigmatisation and erasure of Palestinian culture,” Sakr said.

Albanese is yet to commit in full to Segal's plan.