Hundreds gather at Bondi at dawn for October 7

Hundreds gathered at Bondi Pavilion before sunrise on Wednesday to mark three years since the October 7 attacks, with the shofar sounded at 6.29am, the moment the assault on Israel began.

The commemoration, organised by StandWithUs Australia and the Zionist Council of NSW, brought together community, political and religious leaders to remember the 1200 people murdered and the hundreds taken hostage.

StandWithUs Australia executive director Michael Gencher opened the gathering by noting that the date had not receded into history. “Three years later, October 7 is not simply a date in history. It is still with us,” Gencher said. “It is with us in the way Jewish Australians think about our safety, in the way that we speak about Israel and our relationship with Israel, and especially in the conversations we have with our children.”

Standing in Bondi made that doubly true, he said, because the gathering also sat in the shadow of December 14. “For us, these events do not sit in isolation. They are part of the same three years in which hatred towards Israel and the Jewish people has become more visible, more accepted, and more dangerous.”

Gencher said the community remembered not only those who stood with it but those who did not. “We also remember those who were silent, those who turned away, and those who failed to stand with us when it mattered.”