US Jewish leader speaks after Bondi tragedy

The head of American Jewry’s peak representative body has revealed he had lunch with Rabbi Eli Schlanger and his infant son just days before the Bondi Beach massacre, having walked the same beachside pathways where the attack would unfold.

William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, told The AJN that he and his wife left Sydney just six hours before the December massacre, in which Rabbi Schlanger was killed.

“The impact on me personally has been deep and deeply moving,” Daroff said.

Daroff was in Australia at the end of last year for the J7 conference of Diaspora Jewish leaders, which convened two weeks before the attack. He said the timing of the massacre, occurring at the very first moment of Chanukah, has sent a chill through world Jewry.

“The fact that it could have been any Jew in any city, and in fact, that it literally could have been any Jew who happened to be on that beach in Bondi, I think hits closely and deeply.”

Asked whether such attacks represented a “new normal”, Daroff rejected the notion but acknowledged the escalation in global antisemitism since October 7.

“We’ve seen tremendous increase in acts of terror and acts of hate against Jews worldwide,” he said, noting the J7 had been in Melbourne commemorating the anniversary of the Adass Israel synagogue firebombing.

“Words have material impact. Having the genocidal, globalised intifada language being spoken, having governments instead of condemning Palestinian extremism going forward and unilaterally endorsing statehood, absolutely sends the wrong message.”

Daroff praised the response of NSW political leaders who “embraced the Jewish community, showed up at funerals, and continues to speak out vociferously against hatred of Jews”.

He called for vigilance against antisemitism across “radical Islam, extreme left wing and extreme right wing political actors” and urged Jewish communities to find language and messengers that would resonate with diverse audiences.

Quoting Golda Meir, Daroff said, “Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.

“We are people who survive, and we are people who thrive.”

In a message to Australian Jewry, Daroff said American Jews “stand with you”.

“The punch in the gut from Bondi is something that we continue to feel. They know that we’re with you, that we’re crying with you, we’re laughing with you. We’re sending a big transcontinental hug across the Pacific.”