Jews around the world express shock and grief at Bondi attack

Jewish communities around the world have reacted with shock, sadness and solidarity after what Australia’s prime minister described as a “targeted attack on Jewish Australians” at Bondi beach in Sydney.

- Ashifa Kassam

Yesterday, as hundreds of people were gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, at least two individuals armed with guns began firing on crowds on the beach. Sixteen people were killed and dozens injured in what police designated a terrorist attack.

One of the alleged gunman was also killed.

Alex Ryvchin, of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said in a statement: “I think this was very deliberate and very targeted.”

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council said it was “horrified” by what had taken place.

“We have warned for years that the unceasing antisemitic vitriol on our streets would evolve into antisemitic violence if left unchecked. We have warned that verbal abuse becomes graffiti, becomes arson, becomes physical violence, becomes murder,” its executive director, Colin Rubenstein, said in a statement.

He added: “This is not just a terrible day for the Jewish community, for Bondi, and for Sydney but for all of Australia, and for the values we hold dear, that are the bedrock of what for so long has been our inclusive, harmonious society.”

Jillian Segal, the federal government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism in Australia, said in a statement: “What once seemed distant or uncomfortable can no longer be ignored.

“Taunts from the Opera House steps, synagogues set alight and now massacres at a celebration form a clear pattern. This is not the Australia we know and it cannot be the Australia we accept.”