Eight-year-old’s heartbreaking words to mother

An eight-year-old girl’s words to her mother – “Now, when I come to Bondi, I think about dying,” – have captured the depth of fear gripping Jewish Australians, as witnesses began giving testimony to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion this week.

The girl’s mother, known only as Dina, told the Commission, “It’s so painful, even if you weren’t there, because the reality is they came to kill us. We just weren’t there.”

Witness after witness described how life has fundamentally changed for Jewish Australians since October 7, 2023.

A witness identified only as AAO recounted how a stranger at the Australian Open in January said the Bondi shooters “should have killed more” Jews.

“She was just ranting about Jewish people and how terrible we are, bad for society, and how they should have done a better job,” AAO said.