The Royal Commission on anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion continued to hear the lived experiences of Australia's Jewish community on Friday.
Speaking under a pseudonym, Benjamin, who converted to Judaism in 2022, said while marching with Jewish LGBTQ+ group Dayenu in the 2026 Mardi Gras he genuinely feared for his life, contacting loved ones to tell them where he was.
''The level of hatred I felt towards myself and those around me has been profound," Benjamin told the commission through sobs.
''I've been subjected to slurs. I've been called a genocide supporter.
''I'm gay, you hear slurs and whatever else; I've never in my life been called someone who supports genocide.''
Mia Kline, a 22-year old Jewish student in Canberra, told the inquiry she was forced to leave a share house after her housemates claimed they were ''walking on eggshells'' and the house wasn't a safe space for them.Â
Ms Kline said she felt she had been ''put on trial'' for the actions of Israel.
Jewish studies teacher at a Melbourne Jewish school, Sharonne Blum, said Israel was being framed as the antithesis of human rights.
''It's perceived as a kind of demonic monster and all the things Western civilisation feels guilty for, like colonisation, apartheid and genocide,'' she said.
Former High Court judge Virginia Bell, who is heading the commission, asked Ms Blum if she accepts people can hold the view that Israel engaged in a disproportionate response to the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
Ms Blum said criticisms of Israel's policies were legitimate and also engaged in by many Jewish people.
She then argued anti-Zionism was the latest in a long history and various forms of anti-Semitism, and the ''current war'' was being used as justification for it.
Ms Blum condemned a political cartoon published in a national newspaper that was shown to the inquiry as perpetuating historical anti-Semitic tropes.
The cartoon showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu riding a blimp depicted as US President Donald Trump.
"There are conspiracy theories and tropes ... Jews control the media, Jews control politics, we are somehow nefarious puppet masters working behind the curtains," Ms Blum said.
She compared elements of the cartoon to Jewish people being accused of murdering children and using their blood for rituals during the Middle Ages.
Ms Blum said her students sent a letter to the editor of the Australian Financial Review which published the cartoon saying they felt "excluded and dehumanised" by it.
The newspaper later published an apology accepting the cartoon had caused offence.
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