SYDNEY — Over 18,000 Jews and substantial numbers of supporters outraged by the murderous assault at Bondi Beach a week earlier came out for a vigil Dec. 21 hosted by the Chabad of Bondi. Two Jew-hating Islamist gunmen had carried out a cold-blooded attack on a celebration there organized by Chabad to mark the start of the Jewish Hanukkah festival, killing 15 and wounding 40.
The gathering began with a minute of silence — part of a nationwide observance to honor those killed. Similar events were held throughout the country.
The attackers used high-powered rifles and shotguns to kill as many Jews as they could. They also threw homemade bombs into the park, which would have caused extensive carnage had they exploded. Another bomb was also found in their car, along with homemade Islamic State flags.
Thousands had come to the Bondi Pavilion during the week after the massacre to show solidarity and lay flowers at a rapidly expanding memorial.
After 14,500 people registered to attend the vigil, held in an enclosed park area, thousands more showed up to watch the event on a big screen nearby. It was a solemn event as well as a show of defiance against Jew-hatred.
Many were angry at the federal Labor Party government, which has presided over a surge in antisemitism in Australia since Hamas’ deadly pogrom killed 1,200 Jews and others in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was booed by sections of the crowd when he was introduced, and organizers declined his offer to speak.
“How, after two years of escalating antisemitism and warnings from the Jewish community” could the attack still take place? New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies President David Ossip told the crowd. “Because whilst we are all in shock, and deeply sad, we are not surprised.”
Albanese and other government leaders had demonized Israel for the devastation and deaths in Gaza, which was ruled and used as a shield by Hamas. And they downplayed the growing acts of antisemitism, helping encourage the normalization of Jew-hatred.
Organizers reported the police ignored a request to assign stronger protection for the Dec. 14 Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach, despite increased threats against Jews.
New government attacks
The Labor Party government in New South Wales responded to the Bondi shootings by ramming through legislation that undermines the right to free speech and to protest. It gives police the power to refuse permits for protests for up to three months after they declare there is a threat of a “terror” incident. The NSW police commissioner immediately banned all public assemblies across most of Sydney for two weeks.
The state government imposed additional restrictions on gun ownership. It outlawed the display of “terrorist” symbols and said it would toughen “hate speech” laws in the new year, a blow to free speech.
On the federal level, the first statement by Albanese the evening of the massacre did not even mention that Jews were the target.
He said Canberra would tighten restrictions on gun ownership, and announced new measures increasing penalties on “hate speech” and tightening the country’s immigration laws. He also said the government will step up its power to target “those who spread hate, division and radicalization.”
At the same time, Albanese has rejected calls by Jewish groups for a federal Royal Commission of Inquiry into the attack.
Jew-hatred continues to fester. A rabbi’s car adorned with Hanukkah decorations was torched in a Melbourne driveway Christmas morning. His wife and three children were evacuated from the house after the car erupted into flames just yards from their bedroom. Graffiti attacking Jews and Israel continues to appear throughout Australian cities.
The federally funded film financier Screen Australia has told Jewish filmmakers to tone down Jewish themes in their funding applications, the media reported. Meanwhile, British actor Khalid Abdalla, an opponent of Israel’s right to exist, has been chosen to headline the Sydney Festival in January with a performance exploring “the violence in Gaza.”
Members of the Communist League in Sydney built and joined the Dec. 21 vigil at Bondi Beach, widely distributing a statement by the League condemning the Dec. 14 pogrom there and pointing to a working-class road to fight Jew-hatred.
They organized a special Militant Labour Forum the evening before to discuss how the capitalist rulers use Jew-hatred to appeal to middle-class layers facing disaster as the crisis of their system deepens. The rulers then target Jews, the unions and communists. Rising antisemitism today reflects what is coming, unless workers and the unions organize and respond.
“The fight against Jew-hatred and defence of Israel as a refuge for Jews is a life-or-death question for the working class everywhere,” the Communist League statement says.