SURVEY: Majority Of Australians Feel Less Safe After Bondi Chanukah Massacre

More than half of Australians report reduced confidence that people of all faiths can live safely in the country following the Bondi Beach Chanukah massacre, according to a survey commissioned by the Combat Antisemitism Movement. The poll found that 52% of respondents felt less confident about religious safety after the attack.

The survey also documented shifting attitudes toward Jewish Australians, with 30.5% describing those attitudes as negative, up from 28% the previous year. Nearly half of respondents, 47%, said local municipal councils should be doing more to combat hate targeting Jewish communities. A quarter reported that racial or ethnic tensions in their local areas had worsened over the past year, compared with 18% in 2025.

Confidence in local council action against religiously motivated hate declined significantly, with only 21% saying councils were doing enough, down from 40% a year earlier. Incidents of antisemitism in local areas also rose, with 16% of respondents reporting they had seen or heard of such an incident, up from 12.5% in 2025.

Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was killed in the Bondi attack and who serves as CAM Public Affairs Advocate for Australia, called for stronger action from local leaders. "My father was killed because hatred was allowed to grow unchecked," She said. Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh similarly urged councils to take a more active role, stating that local governments have an obligation to take "meaningful and decisive action" Against antisemitism and hate.