Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: Australian jailed for one year under antisemitism law – Legal Perspective
An Australian man who called Jews “the greatest enemy” of Australia during an anti-immigration march has been jailed for one year.
Brandon Koschel, 31, delivered the antisemitic speech in Sydney on Australia Day on January 26.
“All these politicians that came up here spoke about bravery, all that bull****, because they don’t know what it means; they came up here, gave you a bunch of words, but none of them called out the fact that the hate speech laws were pushed by the Australian, the Jewish lobby groups in Australia,” Koschel said in his speech.
“They were behind it all. The Jews are the greatest enemy to this nation; they always have been. They are an enemy to Western civilization, and for thousands of years Christians and Anglos, the white man, has known that the Jew is our greatest enemy,” he said.
The charges against Koschel
On Tuesday, Magistrate Sharon Freund charged Koschel with publicly inciting hatred on the grounds of race, causing fear. The court heard that the 40-second speech – in which he twice called Jews the greatest enemy – received “cheers in response” and that it was “clearly antisemitic and vilified Jewish people.”
Freund said Koschel would have been aware of the possibility that his hate speech could be republished and also that it could incite violence. Her sentencing also drew upon the vulnerability of the Jewish community in the aftermath of the Hanukkah Bondi attack, in which 15 were murdered.
“The indication or normalization of hatred directed at the Jewish people… will not be tolerated and must be used to deter others,” she said. Koschel pled guilty and, according to the judge, showed no remorse.
This is one of the first hate crime sentencing since the Albanese government introduced new anti-antisemitism and extremism legislation on January 21.
Details of the new hate crime laws
The new legislation represents the toughest federal hate-crime laws in Australian history.
To address the spread of hatred and extremism, including antisemitism, the Combating Antisemitism, Hate, and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026 expands and strengthens Commonwealth criminal offenses. It does so through increased penalties for hate crime offenses, such as new aggravated penalties for preachers and leaders who advocate or threaten violence, the expansion of prohibited hate symbols offenses, and the creation of a fresh framework to enable organizations that engage in conduct constituting a hate crime to be listed as prohibited hate groups. The bill also establishes stricter rules for the import and possession of firearms.
Freund said she “dwelled” on whether Koschel’s words constituted “hate speech” under the new laws.
“The laws were made in response to antisemitic acts; the legislative response and the introduction of [the racial hatred offense] was to target this conduct on the basis that violence starts with language,” she said.
Koschel used to be a member of the neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network, which was disbanded in the middle of January, citing the incoming hate laws. “If the laws pass, there will [be] no way to avoid the organization being banned,” the NSN statement said.
“This disbandment is being done before the laws take effect to avoid former members of the organization from being arrested and charged,” it added.