Melbourne council endorses antisemitism action plan in Victorian first

In the heart of Australia's largest Jewish community, people are gathering for a free first-aid training session inside a former church.

The coloured light beams through the stained-glass windows and onto rows of CPR mannequins as the group find their seats. They come from all backgrounds.

Some are learning first aid for the first time; others are here for a refresher course.

The session is being run by Hatzolah Melbourne, a volunteer-based emergency medical first responder service based in Caulfield North in Melbourne's south-east.

The suburb falls under Glen Eira City Council, which earlier this month became the first Victorian council, and the second in Australia, to endorse an antisemitism strategy.

Last year, 43 per cent of reported antisemitic incidents in Victoria took place in Glen Eira, according to a report from the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Community Security Group.

A desire to help

Hatzolah Melbourne's general manager Josh Wonder said the first-aid course participants, and his service's volunteers, had a common purpose.

"The one factor that unites everyone is the desire to save lives and to help people," he said.

Hatzolah was founded in New York in 1973 as a way of helping aging Holocaust survivors who were too afraid to call traditional uniformed emergency services.

It expanded to Melbourne two decades later.

Along with providing first-aid training, Hatzolah has taken on dozens of first responders and paramedics who volunteer their time attending to medical emergencies around Glen Eira.

Mr Wonder said the nature of calls for help had changed in recent memory.

"We're getting a significant number of mental health calls. I think since COVID, compounded by October 7, and then Bondi," he said.

The 45-year-old described the October 7 attacks in southern Israel as a "turning point" for antisemitism. Since then, he said he and his family had been increasingly targeted.

"[It's] the typical, walking to the synagogue on a Saturday, people screaming out the window," he said.

Mr Wonder said some incidents had been reminiscent of previous horrors on his family overseas, like the morning he received a distressed call from one of his members inside the Adass Israel Synagogue when it was firebombed in December 2024.

"Hearing your grandparents' stories about the same things happening back in Poland and eastern Europe during the Holocaust … it really triggers a person," he said.

A new plan to combat antisemitism

Under Glen Eira City Council's Victorian-first plan, councillors will receive annual antisemitism and trauma-informed training, share public information about how to report an incident, and work with high-risk sites to improve their security.

The municipality also plans to look at better ways of responding to incidents in a timely manner, like the removal of graffiti.

Mayor Simone Zmood said residents had been impacted by a growing number of threatening incidents since the October 7 attacks.

"I know quite a few families who have decided to leave Australia and move overseas because they don't feel safe here," Dr Zmood said.

Hatzolah Melbourne was among 400 Jewish organisations and community members who helped shape the council's strategy.

The group also received funding to provide its free first-aid training through the council's social cohesion grants program.

"We want people to understand what antisemitism is and to recognise it when they see it," Dr Zmood said.

"When we look after one part of the community, we're actually doing things that look after everyone."

Curbing a rising tide in antisemitic behaviour

In the almost three years since the October 7 attacks, Victoria Police said it had carried out just under 19,000 visits "to places of cultural significance to help keep the Jewish community safe".

A police spokesperson said 84 per cent of those patrols had taken place across Melbourne's south-east as part of Operation Park.

"The patrols are focused on places of worship, schools, synagogues and community halls."

The spokesperson said Operation Park was established in October 2023 to monitor and coordinate the investigation of offences associated with the Middle East conflict.

In that time, there have been 585 incidents of antisemitism and 73 reports of Islamophobia made to Victoria Police, with 316 arrests.

"Penalties have included unpaid community work, significant fines and even prison sentences," police said in a statement.

Police regularly meet with Glen Eira councillors and community leaders to share information and advice. Some officers have also taken part in training to better respond to antisemitic incidents.

Hatzolah Melbourne's Josh Wonder said although he and his team had been more careful to stay out of harm's way in attending calls in recent times, he felt confident Glen Eira's plan could lead to positive change.

"This is really a step forward in social cohesion, which is a good lesson for all councils," he said.