Jewish leaders united in grief, demand action

Jewish community organisations across Australia have responded to the Bondi Beach Chanukah massacre with a combination of profound grief and pointed criticism of government inaction on antisemitism, with leaders warning the attack did not occur in a vacuum.

Fifteen people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach on Sunday evening, in what Zionist Federation of Australia CEO Alon Cassuto described as “the worst terrorist attack on a Jewish community anywhere in the world since October 7.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said the attack illustrated that Australia was no longer a safe place for Jews.

“If Jews get slaughtered on Bondi Beach and body bags are piling up at this place, we’re not safe,” he said.

Mr Ryvchin was critical of the Albanese Government for not acting on a 15-point plan the ECAJ presented after the Adass attack, which he labelled a blueprint to defeat antisemitism.

“There is evil among us and if we don’t rip it out by the root we’re going to go down a darker and darker path,” he said, adding that antisemitism in Australia had reached “a crisis of a new magnitude.”

Speaking to SBS Hebrew, Mr Ryvchin said he was feeling utter disbelief.

“This is going to take a long time to grieve and to process as individuals and as a community, as a country. I think we’re permanently changed, and in what ways do we correct our course or do we descend into madness further?”

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip, speaking at a press conference in Bondi on Monday, said the victims “should have been enjoying Hanukkah on a carefree and tranquil summer’s evening.”

“For two years people have paraded in our streets and universities calling for the intifada to be globalised, a catchphrase which means ‘kill Jews wherever you find them’,” Mr Ossip said.

“Last night, the intifada was globalised and came to Bondi.”

Mr Ossip was scathing of Australia’s response to antisemitic rhetoric since the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack.

“What we’ve seen has been the logical progression, demonising Jews with rhetoric, which slowly builds up to acts of violence,” he said.

“Two years ago, on the forecourt of the Opera House antisemites chanted ‘f**k the Jews’ and ‘where are the Jews’.

Sadly, last night, they found the Jews. The time for talk is over. We need action.”

ZFA president Jeremy Leibler said the attack was “an assault on our values, our social cohesion, and the basic right of people to gather without fear.”

“For years, antisemitic incitement, vilification and intimidation have been allowed to grow unchecked. When hatred is normalised, violence follows,” Mr Leibler said.

“We stand united, determined that terror and hatred will not drive Jews from public life in this country. Australia must respond with moral clarity, decisive leadership and action.”

Mr Cassuto said the community was “shaken to our core and still in shock.

“With flags across the nation flying at half mast, it is clear this was not only an attack on Jews, but an assault on Australia and Australian values. We are determined to continue living a proud Jewish life, openly and without fear.”

Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Philip Zajac said the attack represented “one of the most serious acts of mass violence Australia has experienced since Port Arthur.”

“This is the tragic manifestation of a climate in which calls to ‘globalise the intifada’ and similar rhetoric have been tolerated, normalised and left insufficiently challenged,” Mr Zajac said.

“The failure to confront this rhetoric, to enforce the law consistently, to invest meaningfully in social cohesion, and to act on the findings and recommendations of the report by Jillian Segal, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, has failed the Jewish community.”

Mr Zajac said Jewish families were now questioning whether it was safe to attend Chanukah celebrations.

“That reality alone speaks to the severity of this moment,” he said.

“This moment demands more than sympathy. It requires immediate, visible action from government to protect Jewish Australians, hold perpetrators and enablers to account, and ensure that no community is left to live in fear.”

Combat Antisemitism Movement Australia CEO Sacha Roytman has written to local government leaders calling for support for Waverley Council Mayor Will Nemesh and urging them to join a global solidarity campaign.

“Support for Hamas and terrorist organisations must be illegal, calls for a global intifada investigated, and extremist incitement eradicated,” Mr Roytman wrote.