Community leaders draw line from Oct 7 to Bondi

Australia’s peak Jewish bodies have marked the third anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 attacks by linking them to last December’s Chanukah terror attack at Bondi, in which 15 people were murdered.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said October 7 “was one of those cosmic moments when you realise the world has changed and will never be the same again”.

“Because of October 7 and the totally unsatisfactory responses to it we now live in another era of terrorism where the unimaginable horror of Bondi can occur,” he said.

He added that if jihadists believed mass terror would turn most Australians against their Jewish friends and neighbours, “they have failed dismally.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said, “Hamas and Islamic State are different organisations with the same ideology.

“Hatred should not have to become violence before it is taken seriously. Australia learned that lesson at a terrible price.”

Leibler said Israel was “central to our identity, our history and our future.”

National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (NCJWA) president Lynda Ben Menashe spoke to The AJN from Israel where she is attending the Shabtai Shavit World Summit on Counter-Terrorism and October 7 Families Memorial in Tel Aviv.

She said international women’s organisations have still not properly acknowledged the sexual violence committed on October 7.

Asked whether that violence had been recognised, she said the answer was “a resounding no”.

There had been some recognition here and there, “but certainly nothing substantial,” she said.

“And certainly in Australia, where we’re still dealing with the fallout from that, from influential local figures, statements, non-apologies … there has not been a tremendous amount of acknowledgement or justice felt, certainly by Jewish women in Australia.”

Ben Menashe said NCJWA had held “fruitful” conversations with some women in public positions.

Each of those women had either said nothing or had publicly aligned herself with people who denied the violence.

She said Israelis there also see the link between October 7 and Bondi.

“Every time I say that I’m Australian, people bring up Bondi. I feel always when I’m in Israel, and have since October 7, that it is refreshing to breathe the air of a place where reality is shared, and not be in a country where reality, truth, context and history are debated, and so often by people who have absolutely no clue what they’re talking about.”

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive director Dr Colin Rubenstein said October 7, “still stands out as the day the world changed, not only for Israelis, but for Jews everywhere, including here in Australia.”

He said the anniversary was “a sad reminder of the easy sense of security, optimism and belonging that Australian Jews once had and that will be difficult to re-establish”.

Rubenstein said Israel is now militarily stronger, but “Jews everywhere are still much more vulnerable, more uncertain and more troubled than they were on October 6, 2023.”

He said antisemitism in Australia had become increasingly “tolerated and mainstreamed”.

In New York, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) said it has directly aided nearly two million Israelis since the attack.

The JDC said more than 800,000 Israelis have been left vulnerable by the war, many of them seeking help for the first time.