{"id":195619,"date":"2025-12-22T01:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T01:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/195619\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T01:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T01:03:09","slug":"albanese-booed-at-ceremony-mourning-bondi-attack-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/195619\/","title":{"rendered":"Albanese booed at ceremony mourning Bondi attack victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of Jewish Australians have gathered in mourning<\/a> and anger at Bondi metres from where 15 people were gunned down, with many targeting their ire at Anthony Albanese.<\/p>\n

The prime minister, who was booed by sections of the crowd as he arrived at the event, sat in the front row wearing a kippah, the traditional Jewish cap. <\/p>\n

The memorial was watched over by a heavy police presence, including snipers on rooftops and police boats in the waters.<\/p>\n

Albanese has been blamed by many for perceived inaction on anti-Semitism following a string of attacks on synagogues, schools and businesses leading up to the bloody events at Bondi a week ago.<\/p>\n

In stark contrast, NSW Premier Chris Minns – a steadfast supporter of Israel and Jewish Australians – was received warmly as he said the government had fallen short as a custodian.<\/p>\n

“My heart is heavy for the lives that were taken here … I want to say this clearly – we are sorry,” he said to a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People attend a ceremony to mark the National Day of Reflection for victims and survivors, at Bondi Beach in Sydney (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

“The government’s highest duty is to protect its citizens and we did not do that one week ago,” Minns said.<\/p>\n

He announced the launch of an education campaign, One Mitzvah for Bondi, aimed at fostering community spirit through acts of kindness in honour of the victims.<\/p>\n

The loudest cheer was reserved for Ahmed Al Ahmed<\/a>, a bystander who stripped gunman <\/a>Sajid Akram, 50, of his long rifle, preventing more people from being killed. Al Ahmed is recovering from his injuries in hospital.<\/p>\n

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies head David Ossip reiterated the need for a federal royal commission to piece together what had led to the attack.<\/p>\n

“Up until two years ago, Australia was always the lucky country for Jews, but sadly no more – we’ve lost our innocence,” he told the crowd. <\/p>\n

“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

He emphasised the “soul of the nation” was at a crossroads and that mending a fractured multicultural society hinged on active political will.<\/p>\n

“Countries don’t just happen or prosper by default,” Ossip said.<\/p>\n

“They come together and flourish or fall as a result of deliberate choices of people stepping up and actively choosing what we want our society to look like, the choices of people like Ahmed Al Ahmed.”<\/p>\n

In a pointed address, newly installed NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane said the scourge of anti-Semitism could not be ignored.<\/p>\n

The MP, whose electorate of Vaucluse is home to a large Jewish community, detailed her efforts bandaging victims of the Bondi attack as gunshots were being fired.<\/p>\n

Those killed included 10-year-old Matilda<\/a>, elderly Holocaust survivors Alexander Kleytman and Marika Pogany, and rabbis Yaakov Levitan and Eli Schlanger.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Let there be no doubt now anti-Semitism has now led to the spilling of blood on our nation’s most iconic beach,” Sloane said.<\/p>\n

She described the beach as “a symbol of freedom, of hope, and of the Australian spirit of our inclusion, of our beautiful diversity”.<\/p>\n

A minute’s silence was held at 6.47pm, marking the time of the attack, and a single candle was lit in honour of Hanukkah as well as the fallen victims.<\/p>\n

A prayer for the wounded was read in Hebrew by a rabbi as he listed those injured from the community.<\/p>\n

“Our answer to the terrorists is … we will not be silenced, we will not hide, we will not leave in fear,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said.<\/p>\n

Police said they found homemade IS flags in a vehicle belonging to one of the gunmen who opened fire on the crowd of Jewish faithful.<\/p>\n

Thirteen people injured in the attack remain in hospitals as the NSW government prepares to introduce tough legislation tightening gun ownership<\/a> and hate speech.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Aussie PM booed at memorial, and what\u2019s actually open if you\u2019re stuck on Christmas Day? (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of Jewish Australians have gathered in mourning and anger at Bondi metres from where 15 people were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-195619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}