‘Now when I go to Bondi I think about dying’: words no Jewish mother should hear from her daughter

‘Dina was one of the courageous Australians who agreed to appear, tell her story and share her fears and hopes’ at the antisemitism royal commission. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/EPA

When my friend Dina gave evidence to the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion on Tuesday, she made a striking observation. A few weeks earlier, her youngest daughter burst into tears when the family were heading to Bondi Beach for dinner. When Dina asked her what was wrong, her daughter replied, “now when I go to Bondi I think about dying”. Dina realised, in that moment, that her daughter had every reason to think that. “They came to kill all of us, we just weren’t there,” Dina told commissioner Virginia Bell.