Two major recent Jewish festivals or holy days have been shattered by violent tragedies, on opposite sides of the world. Both have involved Jews being fatally targeted. In the latest attack at Sydney’s Bondi beach, 15 people were left dead, along with one of the two alleged gunmen, with another 27 hospitalised. Hundreds more will carry the mental scars of having to flee a joyous celebration of the beginning of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, as shots rang out. Both incidents are moments for profound sorrow and reflection. Taken together, they point to an alarming global surge in antisemitism.

Security and law enforcement agencies in Australia, along with those in the UK and elsewhere, thwart many attacks, but must constantly review whether they could be doing more to protect Jewish communities. The father and son suspects in Sydney, like the Yom Kippur attacker in Heaton Park, Manchester, in October, are said to have had links to Islamic State ideology. Despite the severity of the threat from Islamist terrorism, however, a significant number of planned attacks on Jews in recent years have originated from far-right groups. The far left, too, has its own vein of antisemitism.

Indeed, in terms of the vulnerability felt by the Jewish community, the menace from extremism is one end of a continuum. Recent years, especially since Israel launched its war in Gaza after the horrific Hamas assault on Israel in October 2023 that killed 1,200 people with 251 taken hostage, have been marked by a normalisation of casual antisemitism. Palestinians’ suffering in Gaza is heart-rending. But the crucial distinction between the government of Israel and the Jewish people is often ignored.