{"id":415317,"date":"2026-04-28T19:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/415317\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T19:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:08:17","slug":"sydney-concert-to-benefit-bondi-terror-victims-canceled-after-choir-opposes-singing-with-jewish-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/415317\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney concert to benefit Bondi terror victims canceled after choir opposes singing with Jewish group"},"content":{"rendered":"

A choral concert fundraiser for the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack at a Jewish event in Sydney has been canceled after local Greek singers opposed singing alongside their Jewish counterparts in the planned joint performance.<\/p>\n

The two-hour benefit concert, titled Concert for Hope and Unity, was to feature the Australian Hellenic Choir together with the Sydney Jewish Choral Society in Sydney Town Hall on June 28, The Australian newspaper reported<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n

However, last Monday, during rehearsals, a vote was taken and over half the Hellenic choir \u201cpolitically objected\u201d to performing with their Jewish counterparts, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Others said they feared a possible attack on the event.<\/p>\n

In December, Naveed Akram, 24, opened fire along with his father Sajid on a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney\u2019s \u200cBondi Beach, killing 15 people. Sajid Akram was killed in a confrontation with police during the shooting. Their attack was inspired by the Islamic State terror group, according to police.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

The concert was to raise money for the victims.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA note is pictured next to floral tributes laid at Bondi Pavilion in memory of the victims of a terror massacre targeting a Hanukkah event days earlier, at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, on December 20, 2025. (DAVID GRAY \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Jewish Choral Society chairwoman Anne Spira told members in a letter that the Hellenic Choir would not participate, and the concert was canceled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result is, like many other Jews in the arts since 7 October, 2023, we have been canceled,\u201d she told the Australian. \u201cWe have been de-platformed and it is deeply upsetting for us and for the broader Jewish community, who have been the target of anti-Jewish racism in this country for two and a half years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThe victims of the Sydney Hanukkah terror shooting: top row (left to right) \u2013 Reuven Morrison, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Dan Elkayam, Alex Kleytman, Rabbi Eli Schlanger; middle row (left to right) \u2013 Edith Brutman, Peter Meagher, Tibor Weitzen, Marika Pogany, Matilda [last name withheld]; bottom row (left to right) \u2013 Tania Tretiak, Boris Tetleroyd, Adam Smyth, Sofia and Boris Gurman. (Composite: Times of Israel; Images: Courtesy\/social media, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
\n\tSpira made a submission on behalf of the choir to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, a government-backed inquiry<\/a> set up to probe antisemitism in the country after the Bondi attack, The Australian reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not hard to imagine how we\u2019re all feeling,\u201d one unnamed choir member was cited as saying.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tScreen capture from video of the Sydney Jewish Choral Society in 2025. (YouTube)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bit of antisemitism in the Greek community; I didn\u2019t realize the extent of it,\u201d Australian Hellenic Choir president James Tsolakis said. \u201cThe Jewish people are all into it, I\u2019m into it, but the Greek choir was a bit anti doing it because of the political climate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we have a lot of people in the community blaming the Jewish community for what\u2019s happening in Israel, Palestine\u2026 that\u2019s not correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to hate [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu? Hate Netanyahu, but what have the Jewish people done to you? The whole antisemitism thing has got be wound back,\u201d Tsolakis told the newspaper.<\/p>\n

He said factors that influenced the choir members\u2019 decision were concern over the town hall performance and \u201cthe antisemitism that exists in the Australian climate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The performance was to include a joint rendition of The Ballad of Mauthausen, which is about a Greek prisoner of war and his love for a Jewish prisoner in the Nazi concentration camp of Mauthausen in Austria.<\/p>\n

The two choirs performed the piece together in 2022.<\/p>\n

Tsolakis said they had been expecting a sell-out show for 2,000 people and that two weeks ago, the government approved $15,000 in funding for the concert.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThis handout photo taken and released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on December 10, 2024, shows Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (2nd R) and Rabbi Shlomo Kohn (R) visiting the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 10, 2024, after it was set ablaze on December 6 (Handout \/ DEPARTMENT OF PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty disappointing,\u201d wrote the Australian Jewish Association on X, along with a link to The Australian article.<\/p>\n

Despite the setback, organizers say they hope to hold future joint performances, including one proposed for next year in Canberra, supported by the Greek diplomatic community.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s 120,000-strong Jewish community has been among the hardest hit in the world since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and the subsequent war set off a tidal wave of antisemitism across the globe.<\/p>\n

A report published in December<\/a> by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) said the country saw 1,654 incidents during the 12-month period from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025 \u2014 about five times the annual average recorded in the decade prior to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Bondi terror attack, Jews in Australia have seen synagogues<\/a>, schools<\/a>\u00a0and homes<\/a> firebombed, two nurses threatening<\/a> to kill Jewish patients in their hospital, and the discovery of a trailer filled with explosives said to have been intended<\/a> to cause a mass-casualty event at a Sydney synagogue.<\/p>\n

Zev Stub contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our wartime journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A choral concert fundraiser for the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack at a Jewish event in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[195993,195992,195991,85,46,43,195990],"class_list":["post-415317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-antisemitism-in-australia","tag-australian-hellenic-choir","tag-bondi-beach-terror-attack","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-sydney-jewish-choral-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415317","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=415317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}