The Daily Telegraph, 27 May 2026
Campaign of death threats and online hate attacks aimed at Royal Commission witnesses revealed
A systematic campaign of intimidation - including death threats - targeting witnesses appearing at the Royal Commission into Bondi’s terror attack has been laid bare.
By Ryan Keen
Read the article online at The Daily Telegraph
A campaign of systematic intimidation of witnesses at the Royal Commission into Bondi’s terror attack - including death threats - has been uncovered by a group saying it confirms the need to hold it.
Not-for-profit The Dor Foundation which aims to stamp out anti-Semitism and hate in Australia has catalogued more than 1000 anti-Semitic and abuse posts online, aimed in many cases at specific witnesses after they appeared.
The shocking harassment, intimidation and hate attacks on people who delivered personal testimony about living in fear at the first block of hearings earlier this month have been so extreme Commissioner Virginia Bell put those behind it on notice earlier this week.
She told Tuesday’s hearing a “close eye” was being kept on the material, with one instance under investigation by the Australian Federal Police.
The Dor Foundation revealed on Wednesday some of the worst examples included a call for witnesses to be “executed”, posts to “kill all Jews” and one witness targeted with accusations of paedophilia and child murder.
Female witnesses were also specifically trolled with combinations of anti-semitic language and descriptions of being ugly and demonic-looking.
Posts also referred to the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler as the “holyhoax” and expressing approval for the extermination of six million Jewish people.
The targets of the hate attacks and threats didn’t just include high-profile Royal Commission witnesses such as Executive Council of Australian Jewry CEO Alex Ryvchin but people with no public profile.
Victims of the attacks also include people who lost loved ones in the Bondi shooting massacre which claimed 15 innocent lives on December 14.
The first block of hearings heard emotional testimony from many attending the Jewish Chanukah by the Sea festival targeted, including Sheina Gutnick, the daughter of Bondi hero Reuven Morrison who was fatally shot after lobbing a brick at the shooters.
In a release laying bare the vile campaign, multiple examples of material posted online included verbal abuse and slurs attached to photos of people appearing at the Royal Commission.
Dor Foundation CEO Tahli Blicblau said: “Many of the people targeted were not public figures. They are individuals sharing deeply personal experiences, but the message sent to them online was unmistakeable: speak up, and you will be punished for it.
“The Royal Commission was established to understand the lived experience of anti-Semitism. The online abuse that followed the first block of witness testimony is not incidental to the commission’s work - it is the commission’s work.
“It makes the need for this inquiry abundantly clear, and its ongoing work absolutely vital.”
Ms Blicblau said the death threats, Holocaust “glorification”, dehumanising racist slurs and intimidation was targeting ordinary Australians including children.
“This was not abstract hostility but the direct targeting of individuals giving evidence about this very subject matter,” she said.
“Abusing witnesses to a Royal Commission strikes at something fundamental - the principle that Australians can participate in democratic processes without fear.
“It confirms the importance of the Commission’s work,” she said.
Ms Blicblau said such conduct wouldn’t be tolerated “in the physical world, and we shouldn’t tolerate it online where it can reach millions”.
“Our online spaces have become the frontline in the fight against anti-Semitism. Extreme hate no longers stays on the fringes.
“It spreads fast, it amplifies fast, and it becomes deeply personal very quickly.”
In a statement, the Dor Foundation said addressing it would take a joint approach between government, digital platforms, regulators and the eSafety Commissioner.
Commissioner Bell said earlier this week: “Quite what this undiluted level of hatred and bigotry directed towards members of the Jewish community is thought to benefit by those who post these remarks is lost on me.
“The commission has as one of its principal objectives understanding and assessing the lived experience of anti-Semitism by members of the Jewish community and it is being informed by conduct of this character.”
The second block hearings focusing on police and intelligence agencies’ actions and resourcing continue on Thursday in Sydney.