{"id":196302,"date":"2025-12-21T10:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T10:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/196302\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T10:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T10:50:07","slug":"we-are-unbreakable-defiance-marks-bondi-attack-commemoration-after-pm-is-booed-bondi-beach-terror-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/196302\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are unbreakable\u2019: defiance marks Bondi attack commemoration after PM is booed | Bondi beach terror attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jewish leaders have called for a federal royal commission into the Bondi terror attack, as some members of the crowd booed Anthony Albanese<\/a> on arrival at the commemoration marking one week since 15 people were killed on the first day of Hanukah.<\/p>\n

The president of the NSW Board of Jewish Deputies, David Ossip, said it \u201ccannot be disputed\u201d that a federal royal commission was needed, to loud cheers and applause from the crowd of up to 15,000 people gathered at Bondi<\/a>, where a minute\u2019s silence was held at 6.47pm, the time the attack began.<\/p>\n

Ossip\u2019s plea was echoed by the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Daniel Aghion, who thanked Ossip \u201cfor the courage to say it\u201d.<\/p>\n

To date the prime minister has backed a NSW royal commission<\/a> proposed by the state premier, Chris Minns, but has resisted calls for a national one.<\/p>\n

Ossip lavishly praised Minns in his introductions, as well as the NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, again to huge cheers. When he welcomed Albanese, who was seated at the front, some members of the crowd booed.<\/p>\n

Albanese was also met with boos \u2013 it appeared by the same members of the crowd \u2013 when he arrived at the event. Just minutes after his arrival, the former prime minister John Howard took the same path to get to his seat. His arrival was met with cheers.<\/p>\n

In his speech Ossip acknowledged the \u201cunbelievable bravery\u201d of Ahmed Al-Ahmed, who was wounded after disarming one of the alleged Bondi gunmen during Sunday\u2019s massacre.<\/p>\n

He said Australian Jews had \u201clanded up in a dark place\u201d, but \u201clight can eliminate even the bleakest of places\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil two years ago, Australia was always the lucky country for Jews. But, sadly, no more. We have lost our innocence. Last week took our innocence. And, like the grass here at Bondi was stained with blood, so, too, has our nation been stained.<\/p>\n

But, he said: \u201cA single act of courage, a single flame of hope, can give us direction and point the path forward \u2026 And that\u2019s what we have seen this week. Despite the incalculable tragedy which has befallen us, we have seen incredible manifestations of light.\u201d<\/p>\n

A young woman at Sunday\u2019s event holds a bee balloon, symbolising 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim of last week\u2019s attack. Photograph: Andrew Quilty\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Ossip called Sloane a hero, saying: \u201cI want everyone to know that last week Kellie made the choice, in the midst of the attack, to go down to Bondi beach<\/a>, to go to where the incident was taking place and she provided assistance to those who were injured and gave shelter to those who needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her speech Sloane detailed her experience trying to help the injured at the Hanukah event a week ago.<\/p>\n

Ossip ended on a note of defiance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should just say that if you have not realised it yet – the terrorist picked the wrong community to mess with because we, the Jewish people, are unbreakable. Resilience is in our veins!\u201d<\/p>\n

The co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, said he had been at the Hanukah celebration at Bondi every year for the past 10 years, chosen by Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who died in the attack<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd every year I chose to stand there with him and with my daughters, first one, then two and eventually all three, with Rabbi Eli alongside me as I spoke,\u201d Ryvchin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know I was putting us all in harm\u2019s way. I didn\u2019t know that among us there is evil in its most pure and destructive form.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd listens to the speech from Alex Ryvchin of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Photograph: Andrew Quilty\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Ryvchin said he would return next year despite the \u201cpermanent loss of our way of life as Jews in this country [and] of the certain end of our carefree days joining with our friends and family to kindle the lights at this place and celebrate life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am willing to accept that we will now live with uncertainty, even fear. That is a price I will pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I will not hide who I am, an Australian and a Jew, for that would be a price too great.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I have chosen to return to stand again on that now-sacred ground, on the first night of Hanukah next year, together with my three daughters, and kindle the light, and praise the Almighty, proudly as an Australian and a Jew, because I know that\u2019s exactly what my friend Eli would have wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aghion said terrorists would not decide the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe Australians make that decision. We Australians will not be dictated to by anyone, and especially not those who wield violence and fear in the name of hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur answer to the terrorists, to their knowing or unwitting accomplices and sympathisers is this. We will not be silenced. We will not hide. We will not live in fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BondiBondi hero Ahmed al-Ahmed presented with $2.5m cheque in hospital \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Minns also spoke, saying the Jewish community had \u201creclaimed Bondi beach for us\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis crime was an attempt to marginalise and scatter, to intimidate and cause fear, but you have stood up to this intimidation for thousands of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

He apologised for his government\u2019s failure to protect its citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith humility I acknowledge the government\u2019s highest duty is to protect the citizens and we did not do that one week ago. That reality weighs on me heavily. We must accept that responsibility and use that to do everything and anything we possibly can to stop it from happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the \u201csad truth\u201d was that the crime had \u201ctragically highlighted a deep vein of anti-Semitic hate in our community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo excuse it as an aberration or a tragic single event is wrong. It will not do justice to the killed and wounded, and will not allow us to take steps to stop it from happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albanese, who was joined by his deputy, Richard Marles, and the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, did not speak at the event.<\/p>\n

Other speakers included the governor general, Sam Mostyn, and Chaya Dadon, a teenage survivor of the attack.<\/p>\n

Albanese had requested all Australians to hold a minute\u2019s silence and light a candle at 6.47pm as an act of quiet remembrance.<\/p>\n

People in the crowd listen to the speeches at Bondi. Photograph: Andrew Quilty\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

There was a heavy police presence at the vigil, including snipers on the roof of surrounding buildings and officers carrying rifles.<\/p>\n

The NSW Police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said the strong police showing did not mean there was an increased security alert but was about \u201chelping people feel safe as they come together to grieve\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the floral memorial<\/a> to the victims at Bondi Pavilion is due to be removed. The Sydney Jewish Museum and Australian Jewish Historical Society will help collect and preserve the materials.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman of Bondi Chabad, one of the last speakers at the vigil, told the crowd: \u201cReturning to normal is not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cSydney can and must become a beacon of goodness. A city where people look out for one another, where kindness is louder than hate, where decency is stronger than fear, and we can make it happen,\u201d he said, stopping for a moment as the crowd applauded.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut only if we take the feelings we have right now and turn them into action, into continuous action.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jewish leaders have called for a federal royal commission into the Bondi terror attack, as some members of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,268,85,46,266,267],"class_list":{"0":"post-196302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}