It was May 1, the day after Commissioner Virginia Bell AC SC handed the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Interim Report to the Governor-General, that Senator Malcolm Roberts made the news.

The One Nation senator for Queensland was interviewed by online comedian Lisa Jane Spencer for her social media channels. A young (gentile) friend drew this to my attention and there was a brief report on the matter in the Daily Mail.

Early on, Spencer asked Roberts whether he was “worried about foreign influence into our politics”. When the senator answered in the affirmative, he was queried about “One Nation’s thoughts, particularly when it comes to, you know, say, AIJAC or even being involved in the Iran war, Israel and all that”.

AIJAC is the Australia Israel and Jewish Affairs Council headed by my friends Mark Leibler (chair) and Colin Rubenstein (executive director). Spencer was running the line popularised by John Lyons, currently the ABC’s Americas editor, in his book Dateline Jerusalem. Lyons named AIJAC as having too much influence over Australian foreign policy.

As I documented when reviewing Lyons’ work in The Sydney Institute Review Online in November 2021, his account of the alleged influence of Jewish Australians in this country is grossly exaggerated.

It is not clear whether Spencer is aware of Lyons’ book but his polemical conspiracy theory about AIJAC and all that is capable of having an impact beyond the written word. Which may explain her question to Roberts.

But then the matter became more serious. Spencer said: “I was going to ask one more question on the Israel thing. Do you think that Bondi was a false flag?” The Britannica website defines a false flag operation as a “harmful, often militant, event perpetrated by someone other than the person or group responsible for it”.

In other words, false flag operations occur when a group wants to attract sympathy for itself. The implication in Spencer’s question is that either Israeli operatives and/or Jewish Australians organised the Bondi massacre in which 15 individuals died, most of whom were Jews, to generate support.

This was a despicable implication. The obvious answer to the question was an emphatic “No”. But Roberts could not quite bring himself to do so. His immediate response was to say: “I haven’t got the evidence. I doubt whether it’s a false flag, but I could be” – following which he was interrupted.

Then Spencer said that it was all a “bit suss” when legislation on guns and hate laws followed the Bondi massacre. Roberts responded: “You asked me if I thought it was a false flag. If I make a statement, it’s got to be backed by fact. I don’t have the facts yet. I’m not ruling it out – you’ll notice that.”

Yes, it was noticed. Now, Roberts shows no evidence of being anti-Semitic. But he is at best naïve. Or perhaps he did not want to disagree with Spencer. In any event, it was an unwise and dangerous comment to make. Especially since the Queensland senator is well qualified for his position – except for the fact that he lacks judgment.

However, to be fair, Pauline Hanson has demonstrated support for the Jewish Australian community, as has her fellow One Nation parliamentarian Barnaby Joyce.

There has been some unjust criticism of the Royal Commission following its interim report. Some commentators have suggested that it has downplayed the significance of anti-Semitism in Australia. This is not so. There are close to 200 references to Jew/Jewish/Jewry etc and some 350 references to anti-Semitism/anti-Semitic in the interim report. There are only a couple of references to Islamophobic or Islamophobia.

Moreover, it is only now that the Royal Commission is hearing evidence of the experiences of Jewish Australians with respect to anti-Semitism. This has increased dramatically in Australia since Hamas’ invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023 and the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel protests which took place in subsequent days, especially in Sydney.

The interim report focused primarily on examining the circumstances surrounding the anti-Semitic terrorist attack on December 14. However, the royal commission’s Letters Patent refer to “the necessity for the inquiry to be conducted in a manner that does not occasion prejudice to current or future criminal proceedings on national security or undermine social cohesion”. That’s understandable. It is in Australia’s interest that any accused person receives a fair trial.

What the interim report makes clear is that in August 2024 the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation upgraded the chance of a terrorist attack in Australia from possible to probable. ASIO also warned in early December 2025 of the “terrorism threat to crowded places and religious events over the 2025-26 holiday period”. In 2024 ASIO warned of attacks on Jewish and Christian celebrations.

It is also clear that NSW Police did not anticipate the risk of a terrorist attack when Australians were celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach on December 14.

The royal commission’s interim report documents that the response by NSW Police to the request by NSW Jewish Community Security Group for assistance with security was for a command inspector to “take a car crew or two with you and provide a HVP [High Visibility Policing] presence”. The instruction continued: “No need to stay the entire duration, but your presence will ensure the community feel safe”.

The NSW police officers who attended the Bondi celebration acted with considerable bravery when the massacre commenced. But they were out-gunned before reinforcements arrived. It is not an act of hindsight to state that the warnings of ASIO in general and the NSW Jewish community in particular were not acted upon.

Why was this so? The answer seems to be that the relevant authorities did not take the pre-December 14 attacks on the Jewish community seriously enough. Here the media should take some responsibility.

As Michael Gawenda wrote on these pages last Saturday, the mainstream media – the ABC, Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Guardian Australia – downplayed the reality of violent anti-Semitism in Australia. For example, Four Corners did not cover the issue between October 2023 and December 2025.

It is this form of denial which makes possible Spencer’s bigoted conspiracy theory and Roberts’ foolishness in not taking a stand for evidence over prejudice.

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Gerard Henderson is Executive Director of The Sydney Institute.

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