Bondi survivor addresses Human Rights Council
Ostrovsky flew to Geneva directly after giving evidence to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in Sydney on Monday
Bondi survivor Arsen Ostrovsky has told the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that antisemitism, “when ignored, excused or mainstreamed, inevitably leads to violence”.
His address is believed to be the first by a survivor of the December 14 terror attack to the world body.
Speaking during the Universal Periodic Review of Australia’s human rights record early on Thursday morning (AEST), Ostrovsky, who is head of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council’s Sydney office, appeared on behalf of AIJAC and UN Watch — and, he said, “as a survivor of antisemitic terror”.
He flew to Geneva directly after giving evidence to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in Sydney on Monday.
He told the UNHRC that Australia had submitted its review last November, only for the country to suffer the worst terror attack in its history weeks later, when 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl, were murdered at a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach. Ostrovsky was at the festival with his family and was shot in the head when he ran towards them.
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