Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was “deeply and profoundly sorry” for not protecting Australia’s Jewish community, in a landmark speech at a national memorial event for the 15 people killed in the Bondi massacre.
Thousands gathered at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday evening for the National Day of Mourning for the victims of the December 14 terrorist attack, united around the theme chosen by Bondi’s Jewish community: “Light will win”.
They were greeted by the surreal sight of police snipers positioned on the building’s famous sails and dozens of armed officers patrolling the concourse.
“We cherish the promise that this country is a safe harbour,” Albanese said to an audience that included relatives of the people killed in the attack and many who survived it, including lifeguards, police and other first responders.
“But sadly that promise was broken. You came to celebrate a festival of light and freedom and you were met with the violence of hatred,” the prime minister said.
“I am deeply and profoundly sorry that we could not protect your loved ones from this evil.”
Albanese vowed to stand in solidarity with Jewish Australians, attempting to draw a line after a month in which he was criticised by many in that community over perceptions he acted too slowly to curb antisemitism.
His apology was applauded by the audience.
“You are not just accepted. You are valued. You are cherished. You have the right to pray, to learn and to live as proud Jews without looking over your shoulder.
“Australians are committed to driving antisemitism from our shores because it stands in opposition to all we are as a country, the nation we have built together – with care and compassion – over generations.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns and federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley also delivered speeches, while Governor-General Sam Mostyn was due to read Psalm 23, the “Shepherd’s psalm”, on behalf of King Charles III.
The Premier received a standing ovation before he spoke.
“The story of Hanukkah is not that evil doesn’t exist, but that it can be defeated by light,” Minns said. “We must take action and indeed we must change. We start by fighting hate whenever we see it.”
Minns said people who did not accept basic values of decency should not be allowed to come to Australia. “We have to have the confidence to say, ‘Australia is just not the country for you’.”
He praised the bravery of first responders, including police constables Scott Dyson and Jack Hibbert, both of whom were wounded in the terrorist attack, who were present in the audience.
Minns also praised the resilience of the Jewish community, and said: “Tonight, just as you reclaimed Bondi Beach, you’ve taken back the Opera House.”
Sussan Ley also lauded the “courage and selflessness” of first responders.
“It has been an honour and privilege to stand with the Jewish community after the Bondi attack,” Ley said.
“We will remember these 15 blessed souls,” she said. “The light of those we lost lives on in all our hearts.”
She pledged that she would fight for an Australia where Jewish people were respected, loved and safe.
The public were asked to join a minute’s silence at 7.01pm and place a candle on a doorstep or window.
People were invited to perform a “mitzvah”, or good deed, in their everyday lives – something as simple as donating to a charity, volunteering to help another person, or any act of kindness done without expectation of reward.
The Chabad community in Bondi chose the event’s theme: “Light will win: A gathering of unity and remembrance.”
Flags on government buildings flew at half-mast around the country, and installations projected “pillars of light” into the sky at 15 locations around the country, including at Bondi Beach.
The event included video tributes to the 15 people killed on December 14.
Their names were Boris and Sofia Gurman, Edith Brutman, Alex Kleytman, Yaakov Levitan, Peter Meagher, Dan Elkayam, Reuven Morrison, Boris Tetleroyd, Marika Pogany, Eli Schlanger, Tania Tretiak, Tibor Weitzen, Adam Smyth, and 10-year-old Matilda.
Relatives of those killed lit commemorative candles in the Opera House’s great hall.
They were joined on stage by Bondi hero Ahmed al Ahmed, his arm still in a sling after being shot twice after he wrestled a weapon away from one of the killers.
“This country has been a safe haven for Jews ever since the First Fleet,” said an attendee at the event, Rabbi Eli Feldman of Newtown Synagogue. “It’s a country that has been good to us and we’ve been good to it. Australian Jews have done their fair share to build this country.”
“There’s belief in the Australian dream, where people and nations and religions of all kinds live together and everyone gets a fair go. That dream was shattered on the first night of Hanukkah. I think there is no Jew in this country who isn’t feeling a sense of grief about their place in this country.
“This violent act didn’t happen in a vacuum. These people were radicalised, and that is a process that happens over time. Nobody wakes up one morning and just becomes a serial killer, a mass murderer. It’s something that is cultivated. This country needs to have a long, hard look at how that happened.”
The mitzvahs could act as an antidote to extremism, he suggested.
“If individuals are doing good deeds, they don’t become susceptible to hateful ideologies.
“Since the attack, there has been a lot of effort by the government to reach out to the community. Actions will speak louder than words, but in my experience there’s been genuine concern and desire to do whatever it takes. I am hopeful.”
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