Sydney school president ‘devastated’ children growing up around antisemitic attacks
Ben Doherty
Stefanie Schwartz, president of the board of Mount Sinai College, an independent Jewish day school with about 400 students, has continued her evidence before the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.
The school was targeted with racist graffiti in January 2025. The school walls were daubed with antisemitic slogans the day before the school returned for the academic year.
She said:
I remember seeing a photo of another local student, not Jewish, looking at these words on our school gates, and going home, and having to ask his parents about ‘Jew dogs’ and ‘Jew terrorists’. And, of course, I was devastated for my own children but also for these Aussie kids going up in an environment where this was normal.
Schwartz said the Mount Sinai school was now intensely focused on security, a number of school excursions had been cancelled, and the practice of children visiting a nearby park at lunchtime had been abandoned.
She continued:
It’s a sad reality to think that we are in a situation where parents are paying to keep their children safe at an Australian school.
Schwartz said she had heard Jewish families had chosen not to send their children to her school because it was too “risky”:
There’s always unfortunately been a need for security amongst Jewish Australians and Jewish institutions but the frequency, the visibility, and the intensity of these antisemitic attacks has fundamentally changed in the last few years, and the fact that this is being felt by the youngest and the most vulnerable – our children – is frankly devastating.
Key events
Tesla and Polestar sales double in April amid EV surge
Tesla and Polestar car sales in Australia more than doubled last month compared to the same time period last year, data released by the national electric vehicle body shows.
As Australians brace for further fuel spikes, the Electric Vehicle Council’s monthly sales report shows Tesla and Polestar delivered 1,458 new vehicles in April. This is more than double the 702 sold in April 2025.
Tesla and Polestar’s year-to-date sales have soared by 47% – a total of 9,185 vehicles – compared with January to April 205, the council’s data shows.
NSW is leading the national growth in 2026 with year-to-date sales up 66% compared with the same time period last year.
Ben Doherty
The co-chair of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, has given impassioned evidence to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, saying Australia now resembled the antisemitic Soviet Union his family had fled when he was a child.
The things we’ve seen in this country replicate what happened there: the rampant abuse, the violence, the denigration, and the sheer relish with which it is inflicted on the Jewish people.
Ryvchin said, as a prominent advocate for Australia’s Jewish community, he faced consistent death threats, threats against his children and family, and “fixated individuals” who posted personal pictures online. He said being called a “Jewish dog” in the street in Sydney “stopped me in my tracks”.
Ryvchin said Jewish Australians feared the country was no longer safe for them. He told the commission he had had Jewish families call him asking “completely calmly, ‘will you tell me when it is time to go’.”
And I’ve told them I would. I told them I will call them and advise them.
I’m not going anywhere, I’m going down with the ship if that’s what is required: I love this country and I will continue to fight for the future of this country. But I completely understand those with thinking about exit strategies and plan Bs. That’s what’s necessary: history has shown how quickly things can change.
Stephanie Convery
I’m going to hand you over to my colleague Adeshola Ore now, who will take you through the rest of the afternoon’s news. Thanks for your company this morning.
Sydney school president ‘devastated’ children growing up around antisemitic attacks
Ben Doherty
Stefanie Schwartz, president of the board of Mount Sinai College, an independent Jewish day school with about 400 students, has continued her evidence before the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.
The school was targeted with racist graffiti in January 2025. The school walls were daubed with antisemitic slogans the day before the school returned for the academic year.
She said:
I remember seeing a photo of another local student, not Jewish, looking at these words on our school gates, and going home, and having to ask his parents about ‘Jew dogs’ and ‘Jew terrorists’. And, of course, I was devastated for my own children but also for these Aussie kids going up in an environment where this was normal.
Schwartz said the Mount Sinai school was now intensely focused on security, a number of school excursions had been cancelled, and the practice of children visiting a nearby park at lunchtime had been abandoned.
She continued:
It’s a sad reality to think that we are in a situation where parents are paying to keep their children safe at an Australian school.
Schwartz said she had heard Jewish families had chosen not to send their children to her school because it was too “risky”:
There’s always unfortunately been a need for security amongst Jewish Australians and Jewish institutions but the frequency, the visibility, and the intensity of these antisemitic attacks has fundamentally changed in the last few years, and the fact that this is being felt by the youngest and the most vulnerable – our children – is frankly devastating.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
More on Australia-Japan joint statements of support
Some more detail has come through on the various joint statements that Australia and Japan have signed following the leaders’ meeting in Canberra on Monday.
Statements were issued to reaffirm the two countries’ commitment to support each other on economic security, energy, critical minerals, defence and security cooperation and cyber.
On energy, the statement read:
We reaffirm our commitment to strengthen energy security; support the flow of essential energy goods, including liquefied natural gas, coal and liquid fuels between our two countries; and maintain stable and transparent engagement on the trade of energy products, while enhancing predictability and transparency regarding the investment environment.
We also confirm our commitment to diversify energy sources, including through supporting the energy transition and investment and cooperation in energy efficiency.
The commitment to “support the flow” of energy is noteworthy given the debate in Australia about imposing higher taxes on gas exports.
Anthony Albanese has ruled out a new tax on existing export contracts in next week’s budget in part to avoid alienating Asian nations – such as Japan – which are heavily reliant on Australian LNG.
Search in progress for NSW bushwalker missing since Sunday
A multi-agency search is under way to find a missing bushwalker in north-west New South Wales.
According to police, Ruth Donald, 62, contacted emergency services at about 9.30pm on Sunday 3 May after becoming lost while bushwalking.
Officers from New England Police District attended an area 12km west of Drake village, near Tenterfield, and commenced a search. Police and family hold concerns for her welfare due to the rugged terrain in the area.
Ruth is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 160cm to 165cm tall, of slim build with blonde hair. She was last seen wearing shorts, a T-shirt, a bright blue rain jacket and walking with two terrier dogs.
The search resumed at 9am today involving local police and rescue services, the dog unit, PolAir, NSW Fire and Rescue, Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service.
Police have urged anyone who might have information on the missing woman’s whereabouts to contact police or Crimestoppers.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Speaking immediately after Anthony Albanese, Sanae Takaichi said the agreement committed both countries to providing a “secure, reciprocal and stable supply of energy” amid the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz.
Australia is a major exporter of LNG to Japan, while Japan supplies Australia with about 7% of its diesel supplies.
She said:
The closure of the strait of Hormuz has been inflicting enormous impact on the Indo Pacific. We affirm that Japan and Australia will closely communicate with each other in responding with a sense of urgency.
PM announces new agreement with Japan
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi, have announced a new agreement to elevate the “special strategic partnership” between the two countries following talks in Parliament House in Canberra.
The high-level agreement, which comes 50 years after the two countries signed a treaty on friendship and cooperation, includes statements on economic security, energy trade, critical minerals and defence and security.
Albanese said:
While geography places our countries on the far north and the far south of the Indo-Pacific, it is thanks to the determination of our countries that we have been closer. That closeness has led to a series of new agreements reached today. These agreements are to the benefit of both of our people.
For Australians, it will mean we are less vulnerable to global shocks like we are seeing right now because of conflict in the Middle East, it will mean more security for farmers when they are planning their crop and more certainty for commuters filling up their car today.
Ben Doherty
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has broken for lunch in its first day of public hearings.
Stefanie Schwartz, the president of the board of Mount Sinai College, has been giving evidence about the extraordinary security measures required by the school to keep students safe.
She will return to give further testimony after lunch.
Earlier, a witness known as AAM said the Bondi attack had convinced her she could no longer live safely in Australia.
AAM said:
We never expected Jews to be hunted on Bondi Beach.
She said Australia had once been one of the safest place in the world for Jews, but now, Jewish people were constantly worried about “what could possibly come next”:
My family and I no longer want to live in Australia. We don’t feel safe here. We don’t feel welcome.
We will move to Israel at the end of the year. For my family, we’ve had enough. It is not OK.
Anthony Albanese and Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi have been speaking to the media in the wake of their meetings this morning. Our Canberra bureau will bring you the details of the new agreements and joint statements both nations have signed shortly.
Catie McLeod
$1m reward offered for information relating to NSW woman’s 1997 disappearance
The New South Wales government and the state’s police force have announced a $1m reward for information relating to the disappearance of Marion Barter.
Barter, then aged 51, was last seen at a bus depot on Scarborough Street, near Railway Street, at Southport in Queensland on Sunday 22 June 1997, police said in a statement released earlier today.
Detectives say they believe Marion took the bus to the airport, where she left Australia for the United Kingdom, under the name Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel, which she had officially changed the month before leaving.
Police are treating Barter’s disappearance as suspicious, and say they believe she may have re-entered Australia on 2 August 1997, under the name of Florabella Remakel with an incoming passenger card stating she was married and resided in Luxembourg.
Police said that, following her disappearance, an unknown person appears to have accessed a bank account belonging to Barter.
In July 2019, a formal police review of the case was conducted and the homicide squad’s unsolved homicide unit established Strike Force Jurunga, to re-investigate Barter’s disappearance.
A coronial inquest was held in Sydney and Byron Bay in June 2021. The coroner recommended the NSW police’s unsolved homicide unit continue its regular reviewing and monitoring of the case.
Police today increased the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person or persons responsible for Barter’s disappearance or death from $500,000 to $1 million.
In a statement, Barter’s daughter, Sally Leydon, thanked police and said she hoped someone knew what had happened to her mother:
This decision shows a willingness to keep pushing for answers, and I welcome that and to those people that do know something, you should know I am not giving up until I find my Mum and justice is served.
