Leaders call for remembrance to become action

Central Synagogue in Sydney was filled-to-capacity last night, yet at times you could hear a pin drop, as Jewish Australians, political leaders, and survivors of December’s Bondi Chanukah terror attack gathered for the third annual official October 7 Commemoration.

Hosted by the Zionist Council of NSW (ZCNSW), the service opened with NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Michele Goldman lighting a memorial candle.

Among the many hundreds in attendance were federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and Indigenous leader Warren Mundine.

ZCNSW president Orna Triguboff said “We carry the memory of October 7 within us, always, but today we allow ourselves to feel that pain…and cry.”

“We mourn the loss of those we loved, even if we did not know them personally… and we mourn the loss of innocence and the sense of safety we once took for granted.

“Safety in Israel, and safety around the world — even here in Sydney, at Bondi Beach.

“Three years ago, we were forced to look into the eyes of a barbaric darkness that we could never have imagined – but we were not destroyed by it.

“Tomorrow, we will rebuild. And we will dance again.”

Israel’s Ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, attending his first commemoration outside Israel, likened Jewish life to the succah, whose branch roof leaves it open to the stars.

“Three years ago, on Simchat Torah, the roof gave way,” he said.

He recalled how Australian October 7 victim Gilat Carbone, 66, had hung up while calling her daughter from her safe room in Kibbutz Be’eri while terrorists were about to approach, so that she would not have to hear what followed.

Newman said he also saw “a direct line” between the Nova festival massacre, the violent demonstrations outside the Sydney Opera House two days later, and the Bondi Chanukah massacre last December – events driven by “deep hatred of Jews and Western civilisation”.

He described anti-Israel protests held on the third anniversary of October 7 as “reprehensible” and warned against any illusions. “The fact that we want peace does not mean that our hostile neighbours want peace.”

NSW Minister for Multiculturalism Steve Kamper, representing Premier Chris Minns, also eulogised Galit Carbone, and said the passage of time did not lessen the memorial day’s significance.

He acknowledged Bondi terror attack survivors in attendance, and praised the Sydney Jewish community and its religious and communal leaders for how they responded after December 14.

“They rejected hatred… they chose light,” Kamper said.

NSW Opposition Leader and Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane said she was “sickened” by anti-Israel protesters who held vigils this October 7.

“People have a right to protest the war in Gaza, it is natural to be distressed about the immense loss of life,” she said.

“But there is nothing natural about celebrating this day, and using this day to rewrite horror.”

Sloane said remembrance “cannot simply mean gathering once a year”.

It meant refusing to normalise antisemitism, calling out hatred “whether it comes from the extreme left or the extreme right”, and defending the right of Jewish Australians to live “openly, proudly, and safely”.

One of the evening’s most moving moments came when 11-year-old visiting Israeli Ben Carasso, known as “Israel’s Spokeskid” for his advocacy, spoke of the 36 children murdered on October 7.

He invited Summer Britvan – the younger sister of 10-year-old Matilda who was the youngest of 15 killed in the Bondi attack – onto the stage, and together, they proudly declared, “Am Yisrael Chai!”.

Other speakers included Rabbi Shua Solomon, who reflected on Israelis’ courage and strength amid tragedy; AFL great Gerard Healy, who apologised for not standing with the community sooner, and urged the AFL to speak out against antisemitism; and Associate Professor Kris Rallah-Baker, Australia’s first Indigenous ophthalmologist, who spoke of his Jewish heritage.

Podcaster and Bondi survivor Lissy Abrahams described her return to Jewish adcocacy and life since October 7, while 18-year-old Israeli shinshimim for BJE NSW, Liri and Uri, shared their own moving October 7 stories.

ZCNSW CEO Yossi Eshed closed by saying on days like this, we are allowed to cry, and to shed a tear.

But he added, “To have the resilience not to give up, and to reclaim the responsibility to rebuild, as people and as communities…perhaps this is [the essence of] Zionism.

“We have the power to come back from trauma with greater strength, purpose, and responsibility,” Eshed said.

“This is when one chooses to live life with purpose.”