Bondi Massacre

I’ve been too sad and distressed by the appalling massacre of  people celebrating the first day of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach on Sunday afternoon, to comment, but I can’t let it go by without saying something, however inadequate. I think the whole of Australia is gutted by this horrific act. It’s shocked us as a nation. It isn’t who we think we are. 

A Hanukkah menorah projected on to the sails of the Sydney Opera House in commemoration and sympathy for this tragedy.

My heart goes out to all the people whose families have been shattered by this act., from the parents of the youngest victim, little Matilda — whose parents gave her the most Australian name  they could think of — to the families of the oldest. And to all Jews everywhere who now feel angry and outraged and insecure and frightened because of it. 

In 1996 there was a mass shooting at Port Arthur in Tasmania, and the government acted swiftly to tighten the gun laws. But it clearly wasn’t enough, as the older shooter had six guns licensed to him. Six! And this is a country that has no large predators to defend ourselves from. You don’t use guns against spiders and snakes and crocodiles and sharks! Only for hunting things like ducks and rabbits.

Or people.  :(

I’ve been heartened by the stories of the various people who attempted to stop the gunmen — the brave Muslim shop owner who wrested a gun off one of them, the elderly couple who died trying to do the same, the old Jewish man who defiantly threw bricks at the gunman, the surf Lifesavers who ran towards the shooters instead of away from them, and more.

But nothing can make up for the people who were murdered or wounded while having a harmless, joyous, friends-and-family celebration. 

I feel gutted, and can only imagine how this has affected the Jewish population of Australia and the rest of the world. All I can think of to do is to light a candle for them, which is utterly inadequate. And grieve.