‘We must strengthen each other’
Sha’ar HaNegev mayor Ori Epstein visits Bondi massacre site and offers trauma support to the community.
The mayor of an Israeli region devastated on October 7 visited the site of the Bondi Beach massacre on Tuesday morning, before presenting Waverley Council mayor Will Nemesh with a medal from his council.
Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council mayor Ori Epstein, who lost his mother, two brothers-in-law, his nephew and his eldest son Netta on October 7, was given a tour of Archer Park by Nemesh.
“I feel we have a common experience, even here in Australia, because the basic reason for that attack, the October 7 attack, is that we are Jews,” Epstein said. “We must strengthen each other.”
He said the two councils could work together, particularly on mental health. “I see that after October 7 there is so much knowledge about how to deal with trauma and post trauma, and how you deal with it not as a hospital but as a process in the community. That is the new knowledge that we bring.”
Asked for a message for Australian Jews, Epstein said,”You are not alone.”
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