Lavac targets Albanese government at Bondi vigil

High profile criminal lawyer Peter Lavac led a vigil outside Bondi Pavilion on January 18 to show his support for the Australian Jewish community, honour the Bondi Chanukah terror victims, and deliver a warning to the Australian prime minister.

In front of more than 120 people – some holding Israeli flags, or the pre-1979 flag of Iran – Lavac began by reading the names of all 15 people who were murdered, only a few dozen metres away on December 14.

Lavac, who is not Jewish, said “today we want to show the world that we – ordinary Aussies – care about our Jewish brothers and sisters – we feel their pain, we feel their suffering, and we stand with them”.

Then, with trademark intensity, Lavac delivered a message directed at the Australian government.

“What an absolute and utter disgrace it is that our prime minister . . . had to be be dragged kicking and screaming to a Royal Commission.

“It should have been called after the Melbourne [Addas Israel] synagogue was firebombed [in December 2024] . . . but Anthony Albanese did nothing.”

Lavac then announced that he recently held discussions with “high-powered lawyer colleagues, about the crisis in our country”, to explore options to take against the federal government.

These include “demanding the Governor General sack Albanese”; or launching a private prosecution for gross criminal negligence; or launching a civil class action for “breach of their duty of care, and obligations to protect Australian citizens, and keep them safe.”

Other guest speakers included Dr Isaac Balbin from Melbourne – a cousin of Reuven Morrison, who was murdered in the Bondi terror attack – Yaakov Travitz from the Melbourne-based Lions of Zion, and Australian Jewish Association president Robert Gregory.

Balbin said “we gather today in grief, but also in clarity.

“To name the ideology that is responsible [for the Bondi Beach massacre] is not prejudice, it’s not racism – it is responsibility, and it’s clarity.

“Radical Islamism, in partnership with socialism, is what caused the deaths of these people right over there, and if we don’t fight that evil, it’s going to happen again.

“That’s why, today, as much as we’re still under threat, we have powerful, strong, and worthy allies in the beautiful Iranian people, who are standing up with the courage that I wish we saw here in Australia.”

Travitz lamented an Australian government “that is trying to make a differentiation between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, when they are one and the same”.

He urged unity and activism, as “the stronger our voices, the stronger our impact”.

In a message “to our enemies”, Travitz said he “will not be told to stay silent . . . I will stand right in front of them and say, I’m an extremely proud Jew, and extremely proud Zionist, and an extremely proud Australian!”

The event concluded with Lavac and some of his racing car enthusiast friends driving a slow lap across Bondi Beach with helium-filled bee shaped balloons in tow, in honour of 10-year-old Matilda Bee Britvan, the youngest victim of the Bondi terror attack.