Powerful moment Federal Court Justice Michael Lee – the judge at the centre of the Brittany Higgins saga – makes stunningly personal comments

Federal Court Judge Michael Lee has spoken publicly about the latest wave of anti-Semitic incidents in Sydney, which he branded as attacks on his family, in a powerful speech.

Judge Lee made comments in an address to the Jewish Home gala dinner on Thursday evening, hours after a car was set on fire and buildings were destroyed with shocking anti-Israel comments in Woollahra in the city’s east.

The judge said the “growth and mainstreaming” of anti-Semitic acts since the October 7, 2023, massacres in Israel must be addressed by Australian society. In an impassioned speech, he said that any attack on the Jewish community is an “attack on my wife and my children.”

Judge Lee made national headlines in April that, on the balance of probabilities, Bruce Lehrmann raped his former colleague Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.

The judge’s wife, Penny, is the daughter of prominent Jewish lawyer David Landa, and their children are Jewish.

In comments first reported by The AustralianJustice Lee told attendees he was hit with an ‘uncomfortable’ reality after Hamas invaded southern Israel, in reported remarks .

‘The revelation for (my wife and I) since October 7 is that in our different ways, and from our different perspectives, the stark and uncomfortable realization arises that even though we have lived in this country all our lives and thought we knew well, we don’t recognize any aspect of it now,” he said.

He was speaking at the Jewish Home gala dinner the night after cars were torched and vandalized in Woollahra with shocking anti-Semitic comments.

‘Connected to this was the realization that some people we thought we knew well did not understand, or did not want to understand, a more complex story than that presented by simplistic and historically flawed explanations on social and other media.

“They also had no empathy for the trauma caused by last year’s events and their consequences.”

Judge Lee said he was unsure whether the realization that struck him and his wife was a case of the ‘scales falling from our eyes or a profound change in culture,” he said The Australian.

“But on reflection, it does matter, because the growth and mainstreaming of anti-Semitism that we have all seen emerge over the last 13 months needs to be addressed,” he said.

“But to understand how to address it requires some understanding of how we got to where we are today.”

He told me during dinner that he had been was introduced to the richness of Jewish life through his wife’s family and discussed a cultural change in Australia – including at school, where students go to ‘preach rather than learn’.

At least one car was set on fire, while others in Woollahra were vandalized with shocking anti-Israel comments.

Firefighters responded to reports of the car being set on fire in Sydney’s east

Judge Lee’s speech came after celebrity chef Matt Moran’s Chiswick restaurant in Woollahra, in Sydney’s east, was vandalized with anti-Israel comments on Wednesday evening.

Several cars were also destroyed, with one set on fire, while Fire and Rescue NSW responded to the scene about 12.35pm on Thursday. Several cars were covered in white spray paint that read “f**k Israel.”

The cars were parked along Wellington Street, Tara Street, Fullerton Street and Ocean Street. The door of a unit complex on Ocean Street was also painted with anti-Israel slogans.

Chiswick is co-owned by Mr Moran and Elliot Solomon, the Jewish CEO of Solotel Group.

The letters ‘PKK’ could also be seen on several cars and the windows of Chiswick.

PKK could refer to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by some countries, including Australia.