Anthony Albanese cut a lonely political figure laying a small bunch of flowers at Bondi on Monday morning, as the question confronted the nation: could more have been done by leaders, and the community, to prevent this tragedy?

Opinions will differ, and what we learn about the perpetrators will affect judgements. Despite this being an act of terrorism, on the evidence so far the father and son were not formally linked to a terrorist group.

But without doubt, the massacre is the horrific culmination of the antisemitism epidemic that has spread like a wildfire in Australia.

Most of us did not recognise the fact, but this anti-Jewish sentiment must have been embedded in sections of the Australian community – the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 was the spark that lit a conflagration.

The diversity among the people who’ve died can be seen in itself a sort of dreadful parable. They range from a ten-year-old child, Matilda, to an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.

Many Australians will be asking, how did things come to this? Not least because it is not just this one almost-unthinkable atrocity. There have been so many earlier incidents, ranging from ugly graffiti to major arson attacks, including the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne. Australia saw more than 1,650 incidents in the year to September.

The prime minister and his........

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