2. Experiences of serious harm Much of the available information on Australians’ experiences of serious harms on the basis of their religion is generated by religious communities themselves. In particular, representatives of Australia’s Jewish and Muslim communities have each sought to document the reported experience of prejudice and harmful conduct from within their respective communities. Executive Council of Australian Jewry The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) regularly reports on antisemitism in Australia. ECAJ’s highly detailed reports are based on incidents self-reported by members of the Jewish community in each state, and on the Council’s analysis of media, social media, political discourse and other sources. ECAJ adopts a working definition of ‘antisemitism’: Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.8 The 2018 report recorded 366 antisemitic incidents, an unprecedented increase of 59% from the previous twelve-month period. The 2019 report recorded 368 incidents. Incidents include: physical assault; abuse, harassment and intimidation; vandalism; graffiti; and hate communications via email, postal mail, telephone, leaflets, posters and stickers. While there was only a small increase in the overall number of incidents recorded between 2018 and 2019, there was a larger increase in certain categories of incidents of a more serious kind, including verbal abuse, harassment and intimidation.9 The ECAJ report shows the impact on individuals of harms committed on the basis of race or religion: • In July 2019 a 12-year-old Jewish boy at a public school in Melbourne was seriously assaulted by other students, who shouted antisemitic slurs during the assault. The boy required hospitalisation.10 • In October 2018 a group of Jewish students in Sydney were filmed and the footage placed on Instagram. Accompanying the footage was a caption reading ‘Put them in the oven? Yes/No’.11 • In October 2018 a Jewish teenage girl was targeted by two teenage boys on a bus. They said, among other things, that it was a ‘shame Hitler didn’t kill all the Jews’. She was then followed by the perpetrators for two blocks.12 • In June 2019 a Jewish couple in Geelong, Victoria, had over a dozen pieces of pork thrown into their front yard.13 8