The Sydney Morning Herald logo
The Sydney Morning Herald logo
Advertisement
Alexandra Smith

Alexandra Smith

Alexandra Smith is a senior writer and former state political editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.

Meta will appear before the royal commission into antisemitism.

Online hatred spiked after the Bondi massacre: Meta knows why

The royal commission will turn its attention to the role media has played in the rise of antisemitism, including an explosion of hate on social media.

  • Alexandra Smith

Latest

Parents will do whatever it takes to get their children into their school of choice.

Baptisms, moving and enrolments at birth: The tricks parents use to get their child’s dream school

The race to get into an in-demand school has never been tighter and parents will do whatever it takes to secure a spot.

  • Alexandra Smith
Bondi Beach terrorists Sajid and Naveed Akram.

Intelligence gaps in firearms registry posed major risk to safety

The royal commission on antisemitism turned its focus to gun ownership on Wednesday, with evidence about concerns over the NSW Firearms Registry.

  • Alexandra Smith and Amber Schultz
Nikki Goldstein.

Nikki was days from death when Rabbi Eli blew an ancient horn by her bedside

Writer Nikki Goldstein is convinced Eli Schlanger saved her life. But in a cruel twist, the beloved rabbi lost his life at Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025. 

  • Alexandra Smith
NSW Police walk toward Bondi Beach in February, three months after gunmen opened fire into a crowd of Jewish families from the footbridge.

Police did no risk assessment of Jewish festival before terror attack

NSW Police revealed they turned down a request for greater presence at the Chanukah event in Bondi Beach from a Jewish security group.

  • Perry Duffin and Alexandra Smith
Chanukah By The Sea 2023, two months after Hamas’ attack on Israel, shows a large number of NSW Police officers standing guard over the Jewish community. By 2025 only three officers were sent to the same event, where terrorists opened fire.

The Bondi image that raises questions about security at Jewish event

Counter-terror authorities and police will face the royal commission this week as haunting photographs of the festival later targeted by terrorists emerge.

  • Perry Duffin and Alexandra Smith
Advertisement
Long-running tensions within the Darlinghurst Public School gates have ignited into civil war.

The inner Sydney school, the warring parents and a missing principal

Long-running tensions at Darlinghurst Public School have flared into civil war as highly invested parents demand answers from the Education Department.

  • Alexandra Smith and Emily Kowal
Frank Lowy in Tel Aviv in 2024.

From wogball to beloved national sport: How antisemitism can be tackled using the football experience

Sir Frank Lowy says football was once a hotbed of racism and ethnic division. But with a concerted effort, the sport was turned around. The same can be done to defeat antisemitism, he says.

  • Alexandra Smith
Dr Dave Rich, appeared via video link, before the Royal Commission for Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

‘Societies where antisemitism takes root will always fail’: UK expert tells royal commission

Dave Rich, from the UK’s Community Security Trust, has told the royal commission that antisemitism is built on “conspiracy theories”.

  • Alexandra Smith
Shirley Leader, the vice president of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, told the story of a driver who deliberately targeted a child in a pram.

Half of Australian Jewish women feel unsafe, many hide their identity as online antisemitism spikes, royal commission told

An expert on online hatred has told the royal commission that there was a fivefold spike in antisemitism on social media immediately after the October 7, 2023 attack.

  • Alexandra Smith