Reuven Morrison knew what it was to live with antisemitism.
Like many Jews in Sydney, his story began in the former Soviet Union.
“Walking around the streets in the USSR we always looked back, we were aware of our environment, and we expected the unexpected,” Mr Morrison told the ABC last year.
“It is nothing new to us.”
He sounded a hauntingly prescient warning in an ABC article published on December 14, 2024 — one year to the day before he would be killed while attempting to take down a gunman targeting the Jews celebrating the first night of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach.
Reuven Morrison’s daughter said he died in a selfless act. (Supplied by family)
The 61-year-old, who came to Australia in the 1970s as a teenager, was one of 15 people killed and dozens injured as two gunmen fired upon the Chanukah by the Sea event at one of Australia’s most iconic locations.
Read more on the Bondi Beach shooting:
“We came here with the view that Australia is the safest country in the world and the Jews would not be faced with such antisemitism in the future, where we can bring up our kids in a safe environment,” he said when asked about the firebombing of the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne.
People of all faiths have paid tribute to those killed in the attack. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)
A key concern for him was the impact on younger generations.
“There is a feeling of being scared. When people are taking their kids to kindergarten and school, they do not know what kind of events can take place. It is unpredictable.
“They have not experienced this before.”
‘He did not cower’
Reuven Morrison’s daughter said her father threw a brick at one of the gunmen in his final moments. (Supplied)
His daughter Sheina Gutnick said she remembered her father’s words from that ABC interview.
Mr Morrison, his daughter said, is the man in the widely shared video throwing a brick at gunman Sajid Akram after he was tackled by Sutherland small businessman Ahmed Al Ahmed.
Moments later he was fatally shot.
Ms Gutnick said his selfless act of attempting to place himself in front of others as shots rang out allowed a woman and her baby to flee the scene to safety.
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In a statement, Ms Gutnick said her father was “ripped from his wife, daughter, son-in-law and dear grandchildren”.
“My father was murdered. In cold blood. Shot. For being Jewish,” she said.
“He did not cower. He did not lay low. He sprang to action. To fight.
“He was a man bigger than life itself.”
A visible police presence remains at Bondi Beach. (ABC News: Jack Fisher)
Ms Gutnick added that her father came to Australia to live “as a Jew without fear” and that the government had “blood on its hands” in the wake of the attack on Sunday.
“My father was murdered because leaders were weak. Because they were lazy,” she said in her statement.
“Because they cared more about optics than lives.”
Australia, Ms Gutnick said, had “welcomed him with open arms”.