The scenes at Sydney’s Opera House on October 9, catapulted around the world, tarnished Australia’s international reputation as a multicultural success story.

I remember that night vividly. I was at home, complying with the NSW Police warning to Jews to stay home for our safety. Not every Jewish Sydneysider was as compliant, and the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) was receiving a stream of escalating footage of an enraged crowd burning an Israeli flag, lighting flares, and chanting antisemitic chants, all while police watched on.

It’s noteworthy that the crowd had gathered barely 48 hours after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. As news of rapes, wanton murder, and other atrocities was breaking, the crowd wasn’t gathered to condemn the atrocities.

They also hadn’t gathered to condemn the Israeli response, because no Israeli solider had yet crossed into Gaza. In fact, Hamas terrorists were still on the loose in Israel.

Those who had gathered claimed to be protesting the NSW government’s temerity to light the Opera House sails in the colours of the Jewish State, in solidarity with the 1,200 murdered and countless raped, injured, and traumatised Jews.

The sails are lit for many countries, from Ukraine to India, but the Jewish State generates a unique passion.

It’s hard to see the illegal gathering as anything other than a bloodthirsty celebration of the massacre that had just occurred. In that, it wasn’t alone. As news broke, there were several incidents in Sydney’s Western suburbs of celebrations and fireworks. Islamic preachers expressed joy. Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun told a Lakemba crowd, ‘It’s a day of courage. It’s a day of pride. It’s a day of victory. This is the day we’ve been waiting for.’ The crowd responded by chanting, ‘Allah hu Akbar.’

As the night wore on, footage emerged of the police making their sole arrest for the evening, a Jewish man, for waving an Israeli flag. AJA began to receive reports of a crowd chanting, ‘Gas the Jews!’ AJA received footage that evening and shared it on social media the following morning.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley came under fire for her handling of the protest but refused to apologise to the Jewish Community, instead saying the public should be thankful that nobody was injured. Tell that to Anatoly Kirievsky, a Jewish man who had turned up to watch the lighting and was assaulted by multiple protesters.

Police timidity in the face of a mob chanting antisemitic slogans was the first of several incidents that have led some Australian Jews to question whether they have a future here. The community was shocked to see a convoy led by the first person in Australia to be charged with terrorism offences given a police escort into Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. Victorian Police allowed a mob to gather outside a Caulfield Synagogue, following now-debunked claims of a ‘Zionist attack’ on an Arab-owned business. The rally, during Shabbat prayers, inevitably led to the Synagogue being evacuated for safety (a possible first for Australia) and to physical attacks on Jews. Shortly after, an anti-Israel group stormed the Melbourne hotel where families of the Israeli hostages and other victims were staying. No charges were laid.

In order to rebuild trust, there needs to be an inquiry into what happened on that night of infamy. On Australia Day, when police stopped a group of neo-Nazis from gathering, it became apparent that they have the powers they need.

Why was the gathering on October 9, which was illegal, and which led to Sydneysiders being told to stay home, not similarly stopped? On the contrary, there is footage of young men arriving at the train station and exiting cars into the crowd as police watch on.

It must be emphasised that the Jewish community does not blame the police on the beat. I’ve had several meetings with senior police following October 7, and am assured that there is a genuine desire to protect the community. The NSW Police Minister has ultimate responsibility for what happened that night. Opposition Leader Mark Speakman believes Catley should have instructed police to prevent the protest leaving Town Hall to the Opera House. Jewish groups claim they pleaded with her to prevent the protest. Either way, there needs to be an inquiry into why Jewish Australians were told to stay at home and a mob was essentially given free rein in Sydney’s CBD.

Many in the Jewish community believe that Premier, Chris Minns has done a good job managing a volatile situation, but that he is being stymied by activist Western Sydney MPs hostile to Israel.

There is a post-script. In certain quarters, there has been an attempt to deny the veracity of the ‘gas the Jews’ footage.

Interestingly, AJA, the organisation that posted the viral footage, was never contacted by the investigating police. Almost three months after the event, AJA, sought out police handling the case to provide numerous original videos from that night, tracked down, with considerable effort.

Neither I, nor anybody working for AJA, attended that night. We can only rely on the witnesses who did. Those who took the footage and subtitled it, stand by their claim to have heard, ‘Gas the Jews!’

The number of people I am aware of claiming to have heard ‘gas the Jews’ is in the double-digits. Some of them reached out when the footage began to be challenged and notably are neither Jewish nor conservative. Several have submitted statutory declarations to police. Strangely, we were told by one, that police did not interview him before releasing their report.

There is widespread disbelief in the Jewish community with the police findings, that the crowd were chanting, ‘Where’s the Jews?’ and it has sparked a flurry of mocking memes. I am aware of nobody who claimed to have witnessed that slogan, and despite numerous phones appearing to capture it, no footage has emerged.

Whether the mob were on some kind of ‘where’s the Jews’ Jew-hunt, or whatever they were shouting about Jews, nobody can argue that the events of the night of infamy aren’t a scar on NSW’s multicultural reputation. Imagine if a mob of agitated young men had been chanting, ‘Where’s the Gays?’ or ‘Where’s the Aboriginals?’ In order to restore trust, there must be an inquiry into the NSW government’s actions on October 9.

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