Photographer recalls terror at Bondi Chanukah attack
Amir Glazer knew immediately that Chanukah by the Sea on Sydney's famous Bondi Beach was under attack.
WHEN photographing Chanukah by the Sea, Amir Glazer heard a pop. Then another. Like many others who were hearing the same noises, he looked up to see if there were fireworks.
“I saw a glass bottle shatter right next to me, and I immediately understood it was a bullet,” Amir wrote to The AJN. “I started screaming that there was shooting, trying to tell people to run away. People froze in place and didn’t understand.”
Amir, though, knew. He understood that Chanukah by the Sea on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach was under attack.
Amir was hired by Chabad House to photograph the event alongside Peter Meagher, who was murdered during the attack. The pair have worked together for almost five years.
“During the event, the Chabad people approached Peter and offered him to put on tefillin, and he agreed. He put on tefillin at the event, half an hour before he was murdered. He’s an Australian guy, he has absolutely no connection to Judaism, but he respected everyone,” Amir said, explaining that Peter was photographing the petting zoo, which was at the start of the event right near the bridge, when the shooting started.
As an Israeli, Amir explained that he felt a bit more prepared for such an incident.
“I ran towards the beach, I went slightly into the water to be far away from all the other crowds that were running in every direction. I started running towards an area that was relatively clear of people. I didn’t stop for about 6 minutes until the shooting stopped. There were a lot of people on the beach itself,” he recalled.
The detail he remembers most clearly is that the shooting was directed only at the Chanukah celebration.
Amir was forced to leave his camera equipment behind when he fled the event. It remains there still. “There are pictures of many people there, who I believe are no longer with us,” he told The AJN, including some of youngest murder victim, Matilda. “I personally remember photographing her and printing those pictures for her.”
About his “colleague and friend”, Peter Meagher, Amir wrote on social media, “Peter always respected the Jewish community. Even though he wasn’t Jewish, he respected our rabbis, our culture, and our traditions. He did not deserve to die for no reason. The world can be cruel and unfair, and too often it takes the best people from us.”
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