With the deadline for the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion extended to June 14, and hearings commencing this week, some are still questioning whether they should make a submission.

The answer is simple: yes.

Australia is facing an antisemitism crisis, among other serious social fractures, and unless people speak up, our experiences risk being ignored, minimized, or forgotten.

I have lodged my own submission and I will not pretend it was easy. Speaking about antisemitic experiences reopens wounds, not only our own, but those carried by the generations before us. Still, I strongly believe we all should contribute.

I also have reservations about what outcomes may come from this process. But unless we all make our voices heard, how can change ever occur? One thing I have learned, especially over the last two years, is that we do have a voice and we must use it.

I often think about our Holocaust-surviving parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Many lost entire families. We grew up hearing stories of the antisemitism they experienced in the 1930s, in the lead-up to ghettos, deportations and concentration camps. Some survivors never spoke of what they endured. Others did, leaving testimonies through organizations such as the USC Shoah Foundation, established by Steven Spielberg following the production of Schindler’s List.

All four of my grandparents survived the Holocaust. My father’s parents never spoke about it with him or his siblings. On my mother’s side, my grandmother also remained silent, but my grandfather shared many stories with me and recorded eight hours of testimony. I will always be grateful for that insight, especially because some of those........

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