Six months on from Bondi terrorist attack

“Every morning I wake up and think of Reuven and all the others who were taken from us.”

Bondi terror attack survivor Mimi Lebovits was standing near the petting zoo and speaking to her friend Laeh Morrison, the wife of hero Reuven Morrison, when gunmen began shooting at the Chanukah by the Sea celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025.

Six months later, she told The AJN the terror attack feels like yesterday.

“We were chatting away, and Reuven came towards us and saw my husband, gave a big smile – we’re good friends – and shook his hand, and that was the last smile that Reuven ever had,” she recalled.

“After that I heard a shot, and I immediately pushed my husband to the ground, and we jumped on the ground, and the shots were continuous … I was petrified and sang the Shema and tehillim and every prayer that I knew off by heart.

“Laeh actually lay on top of me and was soothing me and then she stopped talking to me I said ‘Laeh, why aren’t you talking to me anymore?’ and she had this terrible fear in her voice, and she said that her husband was walking around.”

Reuven Morrison was killed while confronting one of the gunmen, one of 15 murdered in the massacre.

Lebovits still feels traumatised from the events of that day.

“If I go past the menorah at the beach, I just feel so much sadness, anguish,” she said.

She is thankful that her mother, a Holocaust survivor, did not join them that evening as she usually does. “Thank God she wasn’t with us to see all this. She just can’t get over that they got away with doing what they did, she can’t believe it,” Lebovits said.

“I have to keep going for my family, and feel terrible seeing the widows and widowers, and it’s constantly in our face with media, and the Royal Commission, and hearing stories of people who are experiencing so much antisemitism that I wasn’t even aware of.”

She said that joining the Bondi survivors group “has helped some people, and some of their needs are being met by JewishCare and Jewish House, and that’s comforting”.

Asked if living through the experience has given her a new perspective, she said yes.

“I appreciate my family more. I try and not worry about the little things anymore in life, and just appreciate every day, and appreciate that Hashem saved us,” she said.

“I hope we can go on from here and be proud to be Jews walking down the street in our religious garb, and not be verbally or physically attacked.”

Bondi survivor Arsen Ostrovsky, who heads the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC)’s Sydney office, survived a bullet wound to his head. He said that while his physical injuries may have healed, “The emotional and psychological toll is ever-present, with the road to recovery being a long one. “What happened that day changed lives forever, but it also revealed the extraordinary resilience, strength and compassion of our community. As we reflect on this milestone, and with antisemitism continuing to surge, it also underscores the importance and urgency of the work ahead of us, particularly with the Royal Commission now well underway,” he said.

“We owe it to those whose lives were taken, those who were injured, as well as the future of the Jewish community and the very social fabric of our Australia, to ensure we learn every possible lesson and do everything we can to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”

Aside from Morrison, the other victims of the terrorist attack were Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Dan Elkayam, Tibor Weitzen, Marika Pogany, Boris and Sofia Gurman, Peter Meagher, Adam Smyth, Edith Brutman, Tania Tretiak, Boris Tetleroyd and 10-year-old schoolgirl Matilda Bee.