The Australian, 11 May 2026
‘No friends left’: Jewish teen’s heartbreaking words after school kids targeted him with anti-Semitic abuse on Minecraft
By Clareese Packer and Samina Rakhshani
From The Australian
Many pointed to the Sydney Opera House protest on October 9, 2023, as a critical turning point in the rise of Jewish hate; however, Dor Foundation Tahli Blicblau chief executive instead submitted that scenes at a Western Sydney protest the day prior were pivotal.
“The events of October 7 were described as a day of pride and courage,” Ms Blicblau told the royal commission on Monday.
“Cars were driving through Western Sydney setting off fireworks … that glorification of violence that night at a time when Israel was still counting its dead really set the tone for a permissive environment in which glorifying violence was accepted and permissible.”
Research from the Jewish body, which was established in 2024 to combat anti-Semitism, has revealed that most Australians can’t recognise anti-Semitic tropes.
Radical ideologies had converged in such a way that anti-Semitism was slipping into public discourse easier, Ms Blicblau said.
“They’re shrouded just enough in language, often of human rights, to be acceptable,” she said.
“Most Australians can’t recognise anti-Semitic tropes when they see them, so they’re presented with these hateful tropes and because they don’t recognise it as being anti-Semitic, it’s more likely to become normalised and accepted.”
Ms Blicblau also spoke to the role of online spaces in helping move anti-Semitism away from “shameful radical fringes”.
“The role of the internet and social media allows these hateful comments to reach millions of people within milliseconds, so in order to combat the new form (of anti-Semitism) … we need to operate there,” Ms Blicblau said.