Shoebridge Calls out the Antisemitism Envoy for Disregarding Nazis and Demonising Palestinians

Greens Senator David Shoebridge drilled the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal, during a 2 December 2025 Senate Estimates hearing, on why she hadn’t made a statement condemning the 60-odd neo-Nazis that protested the “Jewish Lobby” before NSW parliament with police approval, whilst instead she’s well known for having condemned pro-Palestinians protests.

In doing this, Shoebridge spoke on behalf of countless constituents who are dumbfounded by the imposition of the antisemitism envoy and her sizable contribution to the descent of the Australian public sphere into a post truth carnival reality.

“Commissioner, there have been very real concerns about the growth of Nazis in Australia – a neo-Nazi movement in Australia – do you share the concerns that I hold and I know that millions of Australians hold about the neo-Nazis and a neo-Nazi political movement in this country?” the Greens senator put to the envoy on antisemitism, or prejudice towards people in respect of being Jewish.

The antisemitism envoy then noticeably paused before replying, “I really do not think it is anything that we should as a country do anything other than condemn and seek to stop.”

Sure, the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust occurred in World War II. So, Segal, it appears, doesn’t consider locals mobilising under the antiquated far-right doctrine that promoted the dehumanisation of Jews to the point that 6 million were exterminated is so vital now. But in turn, the Australian public is left with the impression that what is pertinent, is silencing Palestinians voices as Israel genocides them.

Silence is complicity

“The most high-profile obscene public outing of the neo-Nazi movement happened in my home state. It happened out the front of NSW Parliament House. An appalling neo-Nazi rally that was approved by NSW police,” Shoebridge continued on to Segal.

“I have been looking online for where you have condemned the neo-Nazi rally outside NSW parliament – looking for a clear public statement from you condemning the neo-Nazi rally and questioning why the police permitted it,” he continued. “I can’t find it.”

“Do you condemn the neo-Nazi rally outside of NSW parliament?”

“Senator, I did convey to various news outlets, who approached me, a condemnation,” advised the envoy. “I had a statement prepared. I did not put out a press statement, and I note that, perhaps, I should have made it clear. But to news outlets that contacted my office, I did convey that. I can’t explain why… you could not find anything.”

PM Anthony Albanese appointed Segal envoy in July 2024. This was prior to the onset of the “Great Antisemitism Crimewave” on Gadigal and Dharug land in Greater Sydney over October 2024 to February 2025, which involved attacks staged by organised crime to convey a crisis of hate and then provide police with tipoffs about it in exchange for easier penalisation in their own criminal matters.

“Miss Segal, I have seen you… put out proactive statements condemning pro-Palestinian protests, but when the most high-profile neo-Nazi protest took place outside of a state parliament house, you chose not to put out a proactive public statement condemning it,” Shoebridge said and then asked, “How could you not have?”

“Well, Senator, I take your point. I do absolutely condemn it. I think the activities of the National Socialists are contemptible, as you say, grounded in hate and intimidation, and they are absolutely seeking to disrupt public life and destroy our social cohesion,” Segal made certain weeks after the rally. “I was reluctant to give them more airplay. But I take your point.”

A brave post truth reality

Shoebridge’s questions reveal the recent erosion of basic truth in the public sphere that Segal’s appointment has been a part of. The senator asks the antisemitism envoy why she hasn’t condemned the most overt display of such prejudice in memory and she has no excuse. Her answers then continue to convey the same absurdist tone involved in the question that was posed.

The post-truth nature of the exchange between the senator and the envoy is in keeping with the shift in the local public sphere since Israel commenced genociding the Palestinians in October 2023. As the internet livestreamed atrocities that the public had been led to believe had been confined to colonial atrocities of the past, the prime minister said that Tel Aviv was simply defending itself.

These circumstances meant the Zionist Lobby that, for the most part, had been lying dormant in the Australian polity had to vocally assert itself in order to assuage the rising condemnation of Israel’s wholesale slaughter of Palestinians civilians in Gaza. In order to achieve this, the conflation of criticism of Israel with hatred towards Jews was propagated, which has too eroded basic truth.

Zionism is the late 1880s established political doctrine that promotes the establishment of a Jewish state in historic Palestine, which right now is the nation of Israel. As this settler colonial project involves the mass erosion of Palestinian rights, the Zionist Lobby has been conflating criticism of Israel with the same hatred behind the Nazi perpetrated Holocaust, in order to silence critics.

The envoy has been a part of the asserting of Zionism in the public sphere. As Segal reminded those at the estimates hearing, the first thing she did as envoy was fly to Argentina to take part in the Special Envoys and Coordinators Combating Antisemitism conference, which was a coming together of antisemitism envoys from across the western world. The US envoy was first established in 2004.

In their four page detailed form seeking authorisation from the NSW police lodged over a week prior to their 8 November rally at state parliament, the neo-Nazis, or the National Socialist Network, made clear that they were not solely protesting Zionist Jewish political organisations or non-Zionist Jewish organisations, but rather targeting all Jewish advocacy groups, which is certainly antisemitic.

Any definition in a storm

“Have you sought a meeting with NSW police to find out how on Earth they thought it was okay for a neo-Nazi rally to occur out the front of NSW parliament?” Shoebridge continued his line of inquiry. “You’re the antisemitism envoy, the NSW police signed off on a neo-Nazi rally, have you sought to have a meeting with NSW police to work out how on Earth they signed off on a neo-Nazi rally.”

Segal hadn’t spoken to the NSW police about the matter either. The envoy did, however, release her plan to rid the nation of the scourge of antisemitism in July. Its chief recommendation is to insert the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which conflates criticism of Israel with prejudice against Jews, into all institutions and government. She also wants to monitor the media and universities for such hate.

The PM appears to consider Segal is carrying out vital work, as the immediate past president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), a local Zionist organisation, is being paid $1,000-a-day for her services as envoy, and she’s also been equipped with dual offices in Sydney and Naarm-Melbourne, along with six staffers.

The Klaxon revealed this midyear, as well as that her family trust is the second biggest donor to far-right antiimmigration lobby group Advance, which is an ultraconservative white nationalist group that creates digital content to propagate such messaging, which has been directly feeding into the recent rise in white nationalist mobilisations, as well as the sharp spike in overt Nazism in public.

The fruit of federal Labor’s investment in countering antisemitism is on display in the envoy’s recently published findings at a glance, which state that the level of antisemitism in Australian society is moderate. “Anti-Zionist antisemitism” (sic) is feeding into “Judeophobic antisemitism”, according to the envoy’s alternate reality, while it is mainly being fuelled by Gen Z on social media.

Shoebridge then put it to Segal that her broader November 2025 Antisemitism in Australia report was obviously grounded in the IHRA definition, to which the special envoy responded that IHRA is “government adopted”. However, one IHRA’s original drafters, Kenneth Stern, warned in 2010 that it is now being wielded by Zionists to shield criticism of Israel and its human rights abuses.

The envoy too suggests in her recent report that locals here have been propagating a conflation of the colonial experience in Australia with that of Israel and the Palestinians. She added that in doing this, these actors separate Zionism from Judaism and then condemn it as a settler colonial project, with Israel framed as oppressor and she raised Hamas as a counter to this comparison.

Segal further attended a September combatting antisemitism conference on the Gold Coast, where a report on how to identify current antisemitic symbols was distributed. And as it turns out Nazis swastikas aren’t the issue these days, but rather it’s watermelons, inverted red triangles and the phrase “Free Palestine” that indicates intense hatred towards Jewish people.

“I would join with anybody to fight antisemitism and genuine antisemitism,” Shoebridge made clear in rounding off his drilling of the envoy.

“But when you and others conflate general criticism of the state of Israel, it’s appalling genocidal behaviour against Palestine. When you conflate that with antisemitism you do the cause no credit.”