Mourners grieve 10-year-old slain in Bondi mass shooting

Hundreds of mourners bearing bright bouquets and clutching each other in grief gathered at a funeral in Sydney on Thursday for a 10-year-old girl who was gunned down in an antisemitic massacre during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.

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Matilda, whose last name is being withheld at the request of her family, was enjoying a petting zoo at the festivities on Sunday just before she was killed along with 14 other people in a mass shooting targeting Jews. The suspects, a father and son, were inspired by the Islamic State group, Australian authorities have said.

Beaming photos of Matilda have become a focal point for Australia’s grief at one of the worst hate-fueled attacks ever committed in the country. The massacre has prompted a national reckoning about antisemitism and questions about whether the country’s leaders took seriously enough the threat to Australian Jews.

Matilda’s parents, who arrived in Australia from Ukraine, “moved away from war-torn Eastern Europe to come here for a good life,” Rabbi Dovid Slavin told The Associated Press as he entered the service.

“They did something that a parent is OK to do, take their child to a family event at Bondi beach,” he added. “If it ended this way, it’s something for collective responsibility for every adult in this country.”

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