Jewish-Australian Natalie Levy is the first witness to testify at the royal commission today.
His mother immigrated to Australia from England, while his father immigrated from Ukraine. Levy was born in Australia.
He said his parents grew up with racism in their country. “Growing up in Australia was great. It was safe,” he said. He said he had “never” experienced hatred in his childhood.
“Anti-Semitism was a concept of the old days,” he said.
He said he became aware of the hatred as he got older. He joined the volunteer Community Safety Group as an adult and “became more aware” during his time there of “antisemitic incidents happening around the world and in Australia”.
Levy said the attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, was “horrendous”. The Opera House protest in Sydney on October 9 left him feeling “absolute disbelief”.
