Melbourne marks October 7 anniversary
The evening focused on emotional reflection through music and a symbolic Shabbat table.
Melbourne’s Jewish community filled Toorak Shule to capacity on Sunday night, with 1300 people attending Zionism Victoria’s commemoration marking two years since the October 7 attacks.
The event, titled “The 7th: Two Years On”, was so popular organisers had to create a waiting list for those unable to secure seats.
The evening featured testimony from Geoffrey “Danny” Majzner, an Australian-born survivor of the October 7 massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, whose sister Galit Carbone was the only Australian citizen murdered that day.
“I was in the kibbutz. My sister was murdered there with another 101 members of our community,” Majzner told the gathering.
“There’s still three bodies that we really waiting for them to come home so we can have a closure.”
Majzner, who has spent a month in Australia and who met with political leaders in Canberra recently, said he was returning to Israel with “huge optimism” and hopes for greater Australian government involvement in the Middle East.
The commemoration drew bipartisan political support, with Liberal MPs David Southwick (Caulfield) and Tim Wilson (Goldstein) attending alongside Labor’s Josh Burns (Macnamara) and former Attorney General Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs).
Rather than featuring multiple speeches, the evening focused on emotional reflection through music by Jerusalem artist Avimeir and a symbolic Shabbat table that told the story of what happened in the Gaza envelope on October 7, 2023
Zionism Victoria CEO Ilan Rimer acknowledged the complex emotions the community has experienced, from the recent hostage releases to ongoing antisemitism in Australia.
“As Jews, we are often holding competing feelings in our hearts. We have been heartbroken but also hopeful. We have felt immense pain but also immense strength,” Rimer said.
He addressed the rise in antisemitic incidents since October 2023, including graffiti, attacks on Israeli restaurants and synagogue firebombings, declaring, “This is not what we as Australians should accept.”
“It is time to reclaim the word Zionism. It is time to remind Australians that hate has no place in this country,” Rimer said.
“I am confident that, together with our friends and all the good people of Victoria, that we will not let terror and hatred have the final word.”
The evening honoured those murdered and soldiers who died trying to rescue hostages and protect Israel, with the audience at times visibly moved.