JCCV report on the Victorian Jewish community since October 7

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) has published a new report on the Victorian Jewish community since the devastating terrorist attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. It was presented to the community at the JCCV Plenum on Monday evening.

The report is a collation of published research and original research. It incorporates findings from research undertaken by Jewish Care Victoria, the Community Security Group Victoria, the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS), Monash University’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation (ACJC) and the Online Hate Prevention Institution (OHPI).

This is the third report from the JCCV this year. It follows on from the ‘JCCV-CSG Victorian Antisemitism Report 2024’ and ‘Defining Antisemitism: The Victorian Experience’. JCCV Researcher Paris Enten was the lead researcher and drafter of the report.

The ‘Turning Point: The Victorian Jewish Community After October 7’ report highlights a number of significant changes affecting the community since October 7. Some of these are a result of the attack itself, and some have been caused by the unprecedented wave of antisemitism that followed.

As often happens in times of turmoil and difficulty, there has been a noticeable increase in Jewish Victorians’ engagement with and pride in their Jewish community. The report found “research shows media and social media consumption and use rose significantly in the Victorian Jewish community.”

For example, an ACJC survey of 7,611 Australian Jewish adults in November 2023, found a very high level of news consumption. It found that 98% of Australian Jewish adults were following Israel-Hamas news closely or very closely, and 81% were talking about it daily.

Breaking down of social cohesion and increasing feelings of alienation have been major issues for the community over the period. The most troublesome impacts identified in this new report include:

• Jewish artists and creatives have been targeted, including being doxed, alienated, and cancelled,
• Jewish students and academics have been targeted, experienced antisemitism and made to feel unwelcome and unsafe on university campuses,
• Jews haven been excluded from public life, including workplaces and LGBTQIA+ spaces,
• Community members and police identified and responded to dramatic changes in the safety and perceived safety of the community, with a dramatic increase in the number and severity of antisemitic incidents, and
• Declining mental health among Jewish Victorians of all ages,

The JCCV says that the community’s mental health declined, “as a result of witnessing the trauma of the October 7 attack on Israel, followed by a highly escalated local antisemitism, as documented in the Victorian Antisemitism Report 2023 and Victorian Antisemitism Report 2024.”

Disturbingly, the report noted that, “one local communal advocacy organisation spoke of parents’ extreme fear and anxiety around their children’s safety. This fear and anxiety stem from incidents such as the graffitiing of “Jew Die” on a Jewish school in Burwood, the firebombing of a childcare centre in Sydney, and antisemitic graffiti on a Jewish school in Sydney.”

Andre Oboler, CEO of OHPI, told J-Wire, “The report clearly presents the isolation of Jews in Victoria within the broader community. The hostility is pervasive enough that people feel unsafe going about their lives. This, in turn, is leading Jewish Victorians to turn to others in the Jewish community, whether for support or simply a safe environment in which to go about their lives.

This ‘turtling’, acting in a way that maximises safety and minimises exposure to risk also results in a significant silencing of the Jewish community. While advocacy organisations continue to speak out, everyday Jews are withdrawing from discussions, participation, and simply visibility within the broader community.”

Interviews were also conducted with leaders of active Jewish community organisations in a range of sectors, including religious leaders, youth leaders, cultural organisation leaders and service providers.

The interviews raised the “immense mental load” on communal leaders since October 7. This has caused leadership burnout across nearly every organisation interviewed, including paid and volunteer leaders. This has been described as a “pervasive, incredible fatigue”. The increase in demand for pastoral support was also noted.

The report also found, “high levels of social media use were reported to negatively impact Jewish Victorians’ well-being.”

OHPI’s Oboler advised J-Wire that, “The impact of social media is pervasive in the report. It notes the ‘cumulative impact of viewing antisemitic content, which is widespread on social media’. It shares a Jewish student’s experience seeing ‘resistance is justified’ posted on social media by her non-Jewish friends just days after October 7, and a Rabbi’s experience receiving death and bomb threats through social media.”
JCCV President Philip Zajac said, “This report captures a pivotal moment in our Victorian Jewish community.

While this report does not make any formal recommendations, the JCCV has been considering the findings carefully. Preliminary findings have already helped inform the development of the JCCV’s current strategic plan.

I urge leaders of Jewish community organisations to review the findings of this report and consider how they best respond to the challenges and opportunities documented in Turning Point.”

The JCCV says they will be working with political leaders, local councils, human rights organisations and corporate leaders to consider how they can use the information in Turning Point to best support the Victorian Jewish community.

The report does not make any specific recommendations, but it provides the JCCV with input to its decision-making processes, and JCCV says that the “preliminary findings have already gone into the development of the JCCV’s current strategic plan and related initiatives.”

Clearly, the messages from the JCCV and CSG are being heard, with the establishment of two dedicated police taskforces, new legislation pushed through and record levels of security funding. This indicates a recognition of the scale and depth of the challenges being faced by the Jewish community to manage security and safety.

A full copy of the JCCV report can be found at: https://jccv.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/JCCV-Turning-Point-Report.pdf