We will heal. We will rebuild
'We go on living as true Australians. We love this country even more. We tolerate other religions, cultures and societies at even higher levels'
I attend an Orthodox Jewish day school – Moriah College. You can tell it is an Orthodox Jewish day school because it has high steel fences, closed-circuit television cameras, electric bollards, boom gates. Outside the gates are armed guards with firearms.
This is my reality.
Recently, my school organised a trip to Poland and Israel. Whilst in Poland, the students from my year paid their respects at the many concentration camps which still remain, including Auschwitz. I have stood in the gas chambers, and I have seen for myself the remnants of the greatest horror ever perpetrated by one civilisation upon another. I wept in the Children’s forest where infants and children were taken and mercilessly bludgeoned to death because they were born to Jewish families.
When Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice, due to the expulsion of all Jews from England, he could not have met a Jew but needed a villainous character and relied on other infamous, antisemitic works to create Shylock. But Shakespeare could not understand the hate.
Thus, as I stand here now at beautiful Bondi Beach, where so many were murdered and wounded, I say:-
‘I am a Jew.
Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons.
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’
The response to all of those questions is in the affirmative.
Yet, in 2025 we are still hated. There are still those who would commit murder in the name of hate, and not only try to kill members of the Jewish community, but they are trying to destroy the very fabric of this country and its beautiful iconic treasures, such as Bondi Beach and her people.
They try to destroy what it means to be an Australian and what it means to live in the greatest country on earth.
So what is the revenge for all of this carnage and bloodshed, together with the wounding of so many members of the community who are still in hospital? The answer is simple. We go on living as true Australians. We love this country even more. We tolerate other religions, cultures and societies at even higher levels.
Next year, I want to see bigger Christmas trees, menorahs everywhere. I want to see the beautiful Christmas decorations and displays back in David Jones and other stores and following Ramadan this year, the biggest Eid party this country has ever seen. And all must be welcome, Jews and non-Jews alike, because that is the Australian way. No weapon can harm that. As loving, patriotic, decent Australians we are invulnerable.
Mateship, that unconditional love of the fellow Australian, whether he be friend or foe, was displayed so dramatically by those who attempted to save my brothers and sisters such as Ahmed al-Ahmed, who, through his courageous and heroic acts, has now cemented himself as one of the great heroes of the Jewish community and of this country. He is truly our brother.
That also equally applies to all people who attempted to stop the carnage on Sunday. Their courage will never be forgotten.
We will heal. We will rebuild and love and kindness will always prevail.
Dina is a student at Moriah College.
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