Australia's special envoy to combat anti-Semitism has clashed with politicians over a call to ban pro-Palestine protests from city centres.
Jillian Segal gave evidence to a NSW parliamentary inquiry examining anti-Semitism in the state on Friday and was pressed on previous statements where she labelled the weekly demonstrations as "intimidatory" and "sinister".
Labor MP Stephen Lawrence suggested her comments were an "uncivil way to describe them and the people participating".
"These sorts of calls that ultimately aren't grounded in law and reality can have a pernicious effect," he said.
Ms Segal did not accept that characterisation but acknowledged she had not attended the protests.
She relied on the experiences detailed by those in the vicinity who had felt intimidated.
"It was really the vehemence and the violence for what was being advocated that I was objecting to," Ms Segal said.
"We should be able to go to our city and not feel that.
"They were being jostled, they weren't allowed to cross, there was shouting ... and they were angry they could not access the shops that they wished to."
The inquiry was set up in February after a swathe of anti-Semitic incidents in Sydney, including the firebombing of a non-religious childcare centre near a synagogue and a Jewish primary school in the city's east.
The state Labor government used the incidents as part of its justification in expanding anti-protest laws to include a ban on rallies outside places of worship like synagogues.
Moriah College principal Miriam Hasofer told the inquiry her school was spending $3.9 million a year on security, a figure that had nearly doubled since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel.
"Education is constantly disrupted; our teachers are drained; our wellbeing team is overstretched," she said.
"Our leaders are operating like a counter-terrorism unit and this has become our normal."
The Jewish school, in Sydney's east, had dealt with an average of one security incident per week in 2025, she said.
But Australian Human Rights Commission president Hugh de Kretser said distinguishing between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel remained tricky.
"This is obviously one of the most critical issues ... when the Jewish community and other communities are judging the fairness of particular rules or policies or laws about whether they get that balance right," he said.
A spate of high-profile attacks over summer included the targeting of a Jewish community leader's former home and the spray-painting of anti-Semitic slurs in various prominent locations.
At a previous hearing, some Jewish Australians labelled the inquiry "troubling" because it risked exacerbating anti-Semitism by focusing on just one form of racism.