With antisemitic incidents in Australia almost five times the pre-October 7 levels, the J7 Task Force meeting in Sydney warns of a global pattern.

Jewish leaders from the world’s seven largest diaspora com­munit­ies convened in Sydney today for the first-ever J7 Task Force Summit in Australia, warning that the sharp spike in antisemitism seen in Australia, including foreign
state-linked attacks, is part of a dangerous global pattern threat­en­ing Jewish com­munit­ies and demo­cra­cies worldwide.

The J7 (Large Com­munit­ies’ Task Force Against Antisemitism) brings together major Jewish organ­isa­tions from Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States to coordin­ate responses to rising anti‑Jewish hate. Leaders said the post‑October 7 surge, sustained at his­tor­ic­ally high levels, and foreign state‑linked terrorist activity in Australia mirror dynamics they are tracking across their own countries.

“What is happening in Australia is not an exception; it should be a wake-up call to com­munit­ies worldwide,” said Marina Rosenberg, ADL SVP for Inter­na­tion­al Affairs. “Across North America, Europe and Latin America, Jewish com­munit­ies are reporting the same pattern of unpre­ced­en­ted har­ass­ment, threats and incite­ment. When syn­agogues can be fire­bombed in Melbourne and Jews threatened and attacked in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Toronto, this is a threat not only to Jewish safety but to demo­crat­ic stability itself.

New Australian antisemitism data raises global alarm

New figures from the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry (ECAJ) show that antisemitic incidents in Australia remain at his­tor­ic­ally high levels, at almost five times the average annual number before October 7, 2023, the largest spike of any J7 country between 2021 and 2024. While there has been a marginal reduction from last year’s all-time high, the most serious cat­egor­ies of incidents, including arson attacks against syn­agogues, pre‑schools and other Jewish insti­tu­tions, are higher than in any previous year on record.

ECAJ’s Report on Anti-Jewish Incidents in Australia 2025 doc­u­mented 1,654 anti-Jewish incidents across Australia between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025, in addition to 2,062 incidents nation­wide the year before. For full data and case studies, read ECAJ’s full report.

To respond to this crisis, J7 leaders are convening in Sydney for further strategic con­sulta­tions on address­ing the sustained challenge of antisemitism following the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and devel­op­ing coordin­ated responses to nor­m­al­ised elevated threat levels.

Leaders of the J7 Task Force com­munit­ies shared their per­spect­ives on this troubling trend:

Argentina – Mauro Ber­en­stein, President, DAIA: “Over the past year, the Jewish community in Argentina has witnessed a troubling resur­gence of antisemitic incidents — from hateful graffiti defacing syn­agogues and Jewish insti­tu­tions, to physical attacks, to threat­en­ing rhetoric on social media platforms and public spaces. As DAIA continues to work tire­lessly with gov­ern­ment author­it­ies and civil society to combat this ancient prejudice, we stand in unwaver­ing solid­ar­ity with our brothers and sisters in the Aus­trali­an Jewish community, who face their own chal­lenges with rising antisemitic incidents.”

Australia – Daniel Aghion KC, President, Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry: “The total number of reported antisemitic incidents in Australia has continued at unpre­ced­en­tedly high levels for a second con­sec­ut­ive year. We are now at a stage where anti-Jewish racism has left the fringes of society, where it is nor­m­al­ised and allowed to fester and spread, gaining ground at uni­ver­sit­ies, in arts and culture spaces, in the health sector, in the workplace and elsewhere. In such an envir­on­ment, Jews have legit­im­ate concerns for their physical safety and social well-being in Australia. Together, we must do all we can to combat this scourge which is why hosting the J7 here in Australia for the first time has never been more important.”

Canada – Richard Marceau, Senior Vice President, Strategic Ini­ti­at­ives, and General Counsel, CIJA: “The US-led peace plan has brought much-needed, albeit fragile, stability to the Middle East. Yet here in Canada, extrem­ists have escalated their hatred and violence: openly glor­i­fy­ing Hamas ‘martyrs’ on our streets, attacking Jewish and pro-Israel students at events, harassing Jewish families outside their homes, and targeting syn­agogues and other Jewish insti­tu­tions. For these extrem­ists, this was never only about Israel’s actions in Gaza; it is about instilling fear and sowing division within our society. Canada must stand with its inter­na­tion­al partners in con­front­ing this threat – not only to counter antisemitism, but to safeguard the future of our demo­crat­ic way of life for all people.”

France – Vice-President of CRIF, Gérard Unger: “The new figures released by the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry are pro­foundly alarming. Australia’s data shows not only his­tor­ic­ally high levels of anti-Jewish incidents, but also a rise in the most serious forms of aggres­sion. CRIF stands in full solid­ar­ity with the Aus­trali­an Jewish community and commends ECAJ for its metic­u­lous doc­u­ment­a­tion and its unwaver­ing com­mit­ment to con­front­ing antisemitism. The fact that the J7 is convening in Sydney in response to this crisis under­lines the global dimension of this challenge and the urgent need for coordin­ated action. Demo­cra­cies must act decis­ively to ensure that Jews can live safely, openly, and freely — in Australia, in France, and every­where.”

Germany – Daniel Bottman, CEO of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, on behalf of Dr. Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany: “What Aus­trali­an Jews have to endure mirrors a global devel­op­ment. Over the past two years, antisemitism has estab­lished itself as an ideology that bridges the far left and the far right, as well as Islamists. It has also taken root in main­stream society. In Germany, we have seen a sharp rise of 77% when comparing the number of antisemitic incidents in 2023 to those in 2024. A recent study on 7 October 2023 found that psy­cho­lo­gic­al strain, social exclusion, and a lack of empathy in their sur­round­ings have continued to intensify the impact of the attack on Jewish indi­vidu­als to this day.”

UK – Board of Deputies of British Jews President, Phil Rosenberg: “This year has been one of trauma for the UK Jewish pop­u­la­tion following the terror attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, which claimed two lives. We have been calling on the UK Gov­ern­ment to adopt a com­pre­hens­ive action plan to combat antisemitism and make our community safe. We are acutely aware of the upsurge in antisemitism, which has overtaken Australia and other countries around the world, and it is clear we share many of the same problems. Antisemitism is not just an issue for the Jewish com­munit­ies of our countries but for society as a whole. Together we must defeat this evil which has blighted so many lives in recent times.”

U.S. – William C Daroff, CEO, Con­fer­ence of Pres­id­ents: “The plight of the Jewish people is singular. When Jews face danger in one place, Jews face danger in every place. In the United States, we confront the growing legit­im­isa­tion of anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric, from con­spir­acy theories on the far left to platforms granted to extrem­ists on the far right. In Australia, mobs targeted syn­agogues, schools, and Jewish busi­nesses. Nor­m­al­ised hate speech drives real-world violence. The threats we confront in America, in Australia, and across the world are connected and reveal a rising shared danger. In this moment, we stand together and respond with unity, resolve, and an unwaver­ing com­mit­ment to defend and strengthen the Jewish people.”

See also

• See the J7 Australia 2025 portal for more inform­a­tion about the J7 Task Force and its first meeting in Australia in 2025.