A Federal investigation has been launched after witnesses giving evidence to the royal commission on anti-Semitism were targeted in what has been described as a campaign of online abuse, harassment, and intimidation.

The royal commission heard evidence between May 4 and 14 from experts, community leaders, and witnesses with lived experience of anti-Semitism.

Online monitoring by the Dor Foundation immediately identified extreme anti-Semitic responses targeting those who testified.

The abuse was captured across major digital platforms, including X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Reflecting on the material, royal commission chair Virginia Bell made a statement at the opening of the hearing on May 26.

“We have received reports from a number of witnesses concerning a dramatic increase in online hate messages after they have given evidence,” Ms Bell said.

“I should indicate that in one instance the matter has been referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.

“The commission is keeping a close eye on these instances and recording these offensive social media posts.

“Quite what this undiluted level of hatred and bigotry directed towards members of the Jewish community is thought to benefit by those who post these remarks is lost on me.

“But the commission has as one of its principal objects understanding and assessing the lived experience of anti-Semitism by members of the Jewish community and it is being informed by conduct of this character.”

A thematic analysis drawn from a detailed review of the most severe posts revealed a combination of text, anti-Semitic graphics, and AI-generated or photoshopped images of witnesses.

The analysis identified seven distinct themes of abuse, beginning with explicit threats, incitement and calls for violence.

Posts called for witnesses to be “executed,” invoked concentration camps as a proposed solution, called to “kill all Jews”, and expressed genocidal sentiment.

One post explicitly suggested re-purposing oil refineries as makeshift concentration camps, while posts targeting an anonymous witness included explicit accusations of paedophilia and child murder alongside calls for the witness to “burn in hell.”

Dehumanising and degrading language formed a substantial proportion of the posts.

This included animal comparisons such as “cockroach”, “parasite”, “rat”, “vermin”, “dog” and “pig”, as well as characterisations of witnesses as evil or demonic, utilising phrases like “evil dog”, “demonic”, “vile creature”, “dirty f . . . ing blood suckers”, and “filthy scum”.

Posts referred to the Holocaust as the “holohoax,” mocked the figure of six million Jewish victims with the phrase “six goyrillion,” and expressed approval for Adolf Hitler, with one post stating explicitly that “Hitler should’ve completely finished his work”.

Numerous posts represented the Bondi shooting and the October 7 Hamas attacks as false flag operations perpetrated by Jews or Israel, with some intended to taunt witnesses whose close family members were murdered or injured.

Individual witnesses were accused of lying, fabricating evidence, and performing victimhood for political purposes.

The Dor Foundation concluded that the material reflects a sustained, multi-platform campaign rather than a collection of isolated incidents.

The Dor Foundation’s chief executive officer Tahli Blicblau said the abuse makes the need for this inquiry “abundantly clear”.

“Abusing witnesses to a royal commission strikes at something fundamental — the principle that Australians can participate in democratic processes without fear. It confirms the importance of the commission’s work,” Ms Blicblau said.

“Many of the people targeted were not public figures. They are individuals sharing deeply personal experiences, but the message sent to them online was unmistakable: speak up, and you will be punished for it.

“The royal commission was established to understand the lived experience of anti-Semitism. The online abuse that followed the first block of witness testimony is not incidental to the commission’s work — it is the commission’s work. It makes the need for this inquiry abundantly clear, and its ongoing work absolutely vital.”

Ms Blicblau called for greater oversight regarding safety on digital platforms.

“We wouldn’t tolerate this sort of language or conduct in the physical world, and we shouldn’t tolerate it online where it can reach millions of people,” she said.

“Our online spaces have become the front line in the fight against anti-Semitism. Extreme hate no longer stays on the fringes. It spreads fast, it amplifies fast, and it becomes deeply personal very quickly.”

The royal commission was launched following Australia’s worst terrorist attack which claimed the lives of 15 people after two gunmen used legally obtained firearms to open fire on a crowd of Jewish people attending the Chanukah by the Sea event at Bondi Beach.

The inquiry has heard from witnesses who personally claimed to have been targeted for their beliefs alongside top law enforcement and intelligence agency figures with oversight of terrorism, including ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess.

Mr Burgess told the inquiry, that at the end of 2025, that the spy agency had “no credible information to reflect current attacks preparation in Australia during this period”.

Sajid Akram, 50, was issued a gun licence in 2023 before he used his legally obtained shotguns and rifles to open fire on crowds on evening of December 14. The 50-year-old was shot dead by responding police.

His 24-year-old son, Navid Akram, was arrested at the scene and later charged with offences including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist attack.

NSW Police deputy commissioner Dave Hudson criticised other unnamed law enforcement and intelligence agencies when giving evidence to the inquiry due to their perceived lack of willingness to share important information unless there was a clear risk or threat.

“But other agencies, on occasion, (will) not be so forthcoming,” he said.

“Getting information to the areas where it needs to be, in my opinion, should be the priority to be appropriately addressed, rather than relying on PSPF as a justification for not sharing information.”

PSPF refers to the Protective Security Policy Framework, a Federal policy designed to protect information held by security agencies.

Mr Hudson did not name any other organisations, but the main Federal bodies responsible for preventing terrorism are the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

Both men had come to the attention of ASIO in the years before the attack for links to Islamic groups, and may have tried to enter Afghanistan in late 2022 or early 2023.

The police officer overseeing the NSW Police firearms registry, which grants gun licences, also told the inquiry that she had to personally intervene to convince an intelligence agency she did not name to share information with intelligence analysts checking gun licence applicants.

The role of a senior intelligence analyst was not a part of the the firearms registry from 2022 to 2023, raising concerns about a lack of oversight on whether firearms holders posed a risk.

The role was later filled in early 2025, Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Heyward said.

NSW Police allocated what they describe as a “mobile tasking” of officers to the event despite being asked by a Jewish security organisation to provide a static police presence on the day.

The inquiry has heard that four officers were at Archer Park when the first gun was fired before a total of 11 were at the scene within five minutes. Three police officers were injured during the attack.

The shooting has been labelled as a “surprise attack” by counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC. He stated that there was no information available to law enforcement or intelligence agencies that Jewish Australians at Bondi would be targeted that day.