Jewish Australian Kevin Nafte recounted his personal experience to the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion of living in Israel and playing for a joint Israeli-Palestinian Aussie rules football squad.
Mr Nafte developed true friendships with teammates from the West Bank and East Jerusalem after previously never having met a Palestinian, he said.
"There was a lot of animosity probably at the beginning between players who didn't really trust each other," Mr Nafte told the inquiry.
"But … when you're on the field and someone comes and gives you a bump or shepherds you, protects you from getting tackled by another player, you automatically start to develop that trust."
The inquiry, called in response to the December terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, on Tuesday heard from witnesses about the power of sport for encouraging social cohesion.
Similar initiatives to the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Team should be developed in Australia, Mr Nafte recommended, adding professional athletes had a much bigger role to play in encouraging social cohesion.
"Their words and actions are powerful," he said.
"Sports in general is a powerful tool to unite people and bring people together."
Earlier on Tuesday, Jewish federal Liberal MP Julian Leeser reiterated calls for the royal commission, which is in its final week of hearings, to be extended.
He said some political and institutional leaders had not been properly held to account.
"They have to look at what was it in Australia that's occurred over the last couple of years that has led to (the Bondi attack), and some of this has been the failure in our political leadership and the failure in the leadership of our institutions," he told ABC Radio.
Mr Leeser also backed a call made by NSW Premier Chris Minns to allow members of the Community Security Group, a Jewish organisation that maintains security at Jewish sites, to be armed at certain events on a trial basis.
"The police's resources are stretched, and I don't want to have a situation like we saw in Bondi again," he said.
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