Leaders condemn anti-Israel vigils set for Oct 7

The CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) has compared anti-Israel events planned for October 7 by activist groups to remembering Al-Qaeda on September 11, as two vigils on the third anniversary of the Hamas attacks drew widespread condemnation from NSW Premier Chris Minns, Wollongong City Councillor Ryan Morris, and others.

Those vigils are planned for Sydney Town Hall in the evening, and Wollongong’s Crown Street Mall in the afternoon.

JBD CEO Michele Goldman said that “planning an event on October 7 – to ‘remember the martyrs’ – is like remembering Al-Qaeda on September 11.

“If organisers choose to hold a vigil on this date, they should also acknowledge the Israelis, both Jewish and Arab, the foreign workers and many others who were murdered in the attacks that made the date so significant.

“The fact that this event does not do so is a reflection of the organisers’ bizarre anti-Israel obsession.”