Thousands gather on Bondi Beach to mourn the victims of antisemitic attacks
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Thousands of mourners gathered under tight police security at the popular Bondi Beach on Sunday night to mark a week since two gunmen targeting a Jewish event killed 15 people. Since then, Australian governments have been encouraged to take action to combat illegality and strengthen the country’s already strict gun control.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his predecessors John Howard and Scott Morrison, and Governor General Sam Mostyn, who represents Australia’s head of state, King Charles III, were among the dignitaries at the memorial which attracted more than 10,000 people.
“This must be a symbol of anti-Semitism in our country,” New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip told the crowd. “This must be the time when the light begins to overshadow the darkness.”
The crowd booed Albanese when Ossip acknowledged his presence. Opposition leader Sussan Ley, who had said her conservative government would reverse a decision taken by the Albanian Labor Party government this year to recognize a Palestinian state, was delighted.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu he lashed out at Albanians for the attack on the Hannukah celebration, saying “your call for a Palestinian state adds fuel to the anti-Semitic fire.” Netanyahu has repeatedly tried to combine widespread calls for a Palestinian state, and criticism of Israel’s attack on Gaza following the 2023 attack by Hamas, to. increasing incidences of antisemitism all around the world.
National Day of Remembrance to honor the victims
Photographs of the victims, aged between 10 and 87, were displayed at the memorial. Waltzing Matilda was sung in honor of the youngest victim, whose Ukrainian parents gave their Australian-born daughter what they described as the Australian name they knew best.
The hero of the widely publicized massacre, Ahmed al-Ahmed, sent a message of support from his hospital bed. The man who is an immigrant from Syria was shot after grabbing the gun of one of the gunmen.
“The Lord is close to the broken hearted. Today I stand with you brothers and sisters,” he wrote.
Ahmed al-Ahmed has been hailed as a hero for running towards one of the Bondi Beach shooters and possibly preventing more deaths. Al-Ahmed, who worked for the Syrian security forces, told his cousin that he would die before he jumped into action.
His father, Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed, was invited to light a candle in the Jewish menorah on the last night of Hannukah.
Across the famous beach, people in Australia joined the stricken Sydney Jewish community by lighting candles and observing a moment of silence in their homes at 6:47 pm to remember the moment the massacre took place. Television and radio networks across Australia are also silent.
The state and New South Wales governments have declared Sunday a National Day of Remembrance to mark Australia’s worst mass shooting since 1996 when 35 people died in the state of Tasmania.
Albanese previously announced a review of law enforcement and intelligence agencies following last week’s attack, which was inspired by the Islamic State group.
Indigenous leaders held a traditional smoking ceremony on Sunday morning at the waterfront Bondi Pavilion, where an unexpected memorial grew as flowers and heartfelt messages piled up. The reminder will be lifted on Monday.
Mostyn, the general manager, accepted an invitation from the National Council of Jewish Women for women of all faiths to lay a flower at the memorial Sunday morning. Hundreds of women and girls dressed in white joined him in doing this act.
He later released a message from the British monarch saying that he and Queen Camilla were “horrified and saddened by the horrific attack on Jewish people during the Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach.”
Tight security at Bondi Beach
One of the suspects, Naveed Akram, 24, was shot by the police. He was charged with 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of wounding with intent to kill in relation to the injured. His father, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene.
The Department of Health said 13 of those injured in Bondi remained in Sydney hospitals on Sunday.
Police stepped up security around Bondi on Sunday, including officers armed with firearms. There was criticism that the police who arrived for the first time last week were armed only with Glock-type rifles, without the lethal assault rifles and rifles. Two police officers were seriously injured.
Flags flew for workers on the Sydney Harbor Bridge and government buildings, which were lit up yellow on Sunday night in a show of solidarity with the Jewish community.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the families of the victims felt “sadly, inexcusably disappointed” by the government’s failure to combat the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in 2023.
A day after the attack, an emergency meeting of state and federal leaders pledged to strengthen national gun laws with measures including limiting the number of guns a person can own. Sajid Akram was legally in possession of six firearms, including two shotguns and two shotguns used in Bondi.
The New South Wales state parliament will sit on Monday to debate new hate speech and gun laws.
