United Together“Just get stronger from everything”

A night of hope and healing

Served to honour and remember all those who lost their lives in Hamas’ October 7 invasion, and collectively pray for the return of all remaining hostages in Gaza.

12,000 people were at Christison Park for the powerful vigil. Photo: Nadine Saacks
12,000 people were at Christison Park for the powerful vigil. Photo: Nadine Saacks

On the one-year anniversary of the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, more than 12,000 Jewish Sydneysiders came together as one at a vigil at Vaucluse’s Christison Park on Monday, in a night of grieving, healing, and hope.

The Zionist Council of NSW’s (SCNSW) ‘Uniting Together’ event – in partnership with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) – served to honour and remember all those who lost their lives in Hamas’ October 7 invasion, and collectively pray for the return of all remaining hostages in Gaza.

With beautiful music, prayers, testimonies by four Israelis, and powerful words of support from guests including Nova Peris, Colonel Michael Scott from the Australian Defence Force (ADF), and Zionist youth movement leaders, the event, as ZCNSW president Orli Zahava put it, was “exactly what we all need”.

She recited the final words of fallen Israeli soldier, Sergeant Roei Dawi, that appeared on a large billboard at the entrance to Jerusalem: “Just get stronger from everything”.

“This is what we will do tonight,” she said.

JBD president David Ossip reflected, “over the last 12 months, we’ve reminded ourselves that resilience runs through our veins, and there is nothing we won’t do for each other”.

Peris began proceedings with a heartfelt Welcome to Country in which she said, “Just as you all have an unbroken connection to the Land of Israel, I too carry the legacy of our ancestors . . . I stand with you in your grief, praying for peace in Israel, your homeland”.

Steven Lowy shared heart-wrenching stories from trips to Israel since October 7 as chair of the World Board of Trustees of Keren Hayesod, including the “unbelievable strength” of an Israeli father who, after driving to the Nova festival to look for his son – only to discover he was dead – “somehow had the strength of character to rescue eight young men and women who’d been shot”.

“Just imagine having to face that situation?” Lowy said, before turning to what the Jewish community can do here to help Israel, and the local Jewish community, stressing “This is the moment in time”.

Lowy also had a message for “our enemies from October 9 at the Sydney Opera House, and since”.

“Whether they chanted ‘gas the Jews’ or ‘where’s the Jews?’, it doesn’t matter . . . what matters is there are 12,000 of us here [tonight] – we’re strong, we’re united, and we’re proud Australian Jews.”

Wounded Israeli soldier, Yuval, 21, told the audience how, on October 7, the armoured vehicle he was in got disabled by a rocket strike, and surrounded by 50 terrorists.

“One terrorist got underneath and stuck on a bomb, which exploded, and my tibia bone was completely shattered,” he said.

Chris Minns (left) and Peter Dutton shake hands as Orli Zahava looks on. Photo: Nadine Saacks

“I’m here to show you that even after being injured, after not being able to go back to my home [in evacuated Kiryat Shemona], and even after losing friends aged 20, that our nation has faced challenges before, but each time we have emerged stronger, more united, and determined to build a better future”.

Israeli soldier Ilay Bahagon, 25, recalled the pain of learning that one of his best friends in the IDF, Rom Shlomi, had been killed while defending Re’im.

Upon returning to service himself, Bahagon described “the first time that I actually saw pure evil”, when the first house he went into in Nir Oz “smelled like death”.

“On the living room table, I saw a child’s calendar, with a countdown and a heading that said: days until mum comes back home from overseas – and the last cross [on it] was on October 6.

“I firstly thought about the same calendar I had when I was a kid, and I thought about the mother – that she didn’t have a place to return to, not a house, and not a family.”

Bahagon spent the the next eight months serving, in and out of Gaza, mostly in a small team that was fighting Hamas terrorists in tunnels under Gazan cities.

At one point, a sniper’s gunshot missed him and his unit by only a few inches.

“Each time I had a difficult time, I had only one picture in my mind, and it was that child’s calendar in Nir Oz – that reminded me that this is much bigger than me, and much bigger than Israel . . . it’s about fighting for life.”

Bahagon concluded, “Thank you so much for being here, for your love, and your deep and honest caring – you have no idea how healing it is. We are all in this together.”

ADF veteran, Colonel Michael Scott, spoke fondly of residing in Jerusalem with his wife Christina from 2019 to 2021, while serving as a military peacekeeper operating in Israel and four Arab nations, and of travelling to Israel last month to reunite with Israeli friends, including spending time with IDF soldiers inside Gaza.

“I saw Israeli volunteers in uniform, young and old, with love in their hearts, not hate,” Colonel Scott said.

“I saw the IDF for who it is – the most highly educated, lawful, ethical, and moral military fighting force that world history has ever known – operating in a diabolical environment.

“One must never become complacent, but Israel is winning.

“And I’ve seen strength in the eyes of many here tonight, that you may not yet recognise in yourselves.

“Be strong, and keep being you.”

Four speeches by politicians all drew applause, with the loudest cheers for federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who said October 7 “awoke and exposed an antisemitic rot afflicting Western democracies”, including Australia.

“There’s been a vacuum of leadership, and in that vacuum, intolerable incidents have been tolerated,” Dutton said.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said, “As [US] President [Joe] Biden has said, a military response must be proportionate, but no self-respecting nation would fail to defend itself if attacked the way Israel has been”.

On antisemitism, NSW Premier Chris Minns said, “We can’t change the hate in people’s hearts, but we can call it for what it is, and that is racism”.

And NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said, tonight, “We remember the victims of that day of depravity, barbarity and violence, inflicted without warning and without cause, on Israel and its people”.

A minute’s silence was observed in memory of the perished, and photos of their faces were projected onto giant screens.

The event concluded with 12,000 voices singing Advance Australia Fair, Hatikvah, and Am Yisrael Chai.

read more:
comments