One of the survivors of Sunday’s terrorist attack at Bondi Beach has recalled the chaos as a bullet grazed his head, leaving him “millimetres from death”.<\/p>\n
Holding back emotion at the floral memorial at Bondi Beach on Thursday, Arsen Ostrovsky told reporters about the moment he thought he had been shot.<\/p>\n
“I immediately ducked, but then I knew my wife and kids were about 20 to 30 metres away \u2026 towards the shooter,” he said.<\/p>\n
Read more on the Bondi Beach shooting:<\/p>\n
“So I stood up, and I started to run towards them and I got hit. I fell to the ground screaming ‘I’m hit I’m hit’, blood started gushing everywhere.<\/p>\n
“I put my hand on my head. I almost felt my bone.”<\/p>\n
The bullet that struck Mr Ostrovsky had grazed his head but resulted in serious blood loss.<\/p>\n
“And the doctors said it was a miracle, that I was millimetres away from life and death,” he said.<\/p>\n
It was only hours later in hospital that Mr Ostrokvsky learnt his wife and children escaped the terror by running “metres” past him.<\/p>\n
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Arsen Ostrovsky in Israel in 2016 with former Labor MP Michael Danby. Mr Ostrovsky moved back to Australia recently after living in Israel. (Twitter: Arsen Ostrovsky)<\/p>\n
Later, the bloodied selfie he took ducking for cover would be seen around the world.<\/p>\n
Mr Ostrovsky said he sent the image to his wife with the words “love you”, saying he did not know if it would be the last thing he said to her.<\/p>\n
When asked about reports of AI-altered versions of that image circulating online, Mr Ostrovsky called for social media giants to act more responsibly.<\/p>\n
“I will not dignify these sick and twisted campaigns of hate and lies with a response,” he said of the doctored photo.<\/p>\n
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ABC NEWS has blurred the image of Arsen Ostrovsky due to its graphic nature. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
“But I will just say there is an incredible onus on the social media companies to stamp this hatred out because these are not mere words.<\/p>\n
“And as we saw here, just Sunday, when words, when hatred is left untouched, it leads to violence. And we saw the deadly manifestation of that on Sunday.”<\/p>\n
Mr Ostrovsky, who heads the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council, had only recently moved back to Australia from Israel when he attended Sunday’s Hanukkah event.<\/p>\n
“She asked me ‘daddy, does that mean no more boomies’, meaning no more rockets, no more sirens, no more running to bomb shelters,” he said.<\/p>\n
“And I said ‘no, sweetie, no more boomies, you’re safe, this is Australia’.<\/p>\n
“I was wrong. Very, very wrong.”.<\/p>\n