A royal commission established after the massacre is holding two weeks of public hearings.
Counsel assisting the commission, Zelie Heger SC, said the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel marked a significant turning point.
The Hamas attacks killed 1200 Israelis and another 250 people were taken hostage.
In the immediate aftermath, a demonstration took place in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. Its sails were lit up in the colours of the Israeli flag, in solidarity with the victims and Israeli and Jewish communities.
"In a time when those communities were in a period of deep mourning, some participants in that protest chanted 'f*** the Jews' and 'where are the Jews?'," Ms Hegel told the commission on Monday.
"We'll hear evidence about that event and the fear and anxiety it created in the community."
What followed was later described as the "Summer of Terror" which included arson and vandalism attacks on synagogues as well as Jewish homes and businesses.
"They wonder if history is repeating itself," Ms Heger said
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry reported more than 2000 anti-Semitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024, a threefold increase on the year before.
The data did not include instances of online hate.
Ms Heger said the numbers alone did not fully express the impact on Jewish Australians going about their daily lives and being exposed to everything from overt verbal attacks to more flippant and casual anti-Semitism.
The commission will hear testimony from a Jewish man who was on his way to a bus stop on Oxford Street in Bondi Junction, wearing a kippah when a man approached him, called him a dirty Jew, performed Nazi salutes and directed a gun finger gesture towards him.
"This occurred in broad daylight in a busy public space," Ms Hegel said.
"One bystander intervened to try to help. The large crowd nearby did nothing."
The commission will hand down a final report before the end of the year.
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