On the morning after, the walk down to Bondi became a solemn procession. Locals who usually head to the beach with towels slung casually over their shoulders cradled flowers in their arms. The flags at Icebergs already were at half-mast.

After the gunshots, screams and sirens of Sunday’s murderous mayhem, a quietude descended. A soulful silence. Knowing glances replaced words. Bereaved families were locked in tearful group hugs. An expanding carpet of floral tributes outside the shut gates of Bondi Pavilion became a measure of community and national sorrow. On the shoreline of Australia’s most charismatic crescent of surf and sand came wave after wave of grief.

Illustration by Simon Letch Credit:

Too many times on too many continents have I covered the aftermath of mass shootings and terrorist massacres, but never before in a setting cherished by so many as a happy place. A sanctuary from the pressures of everyday life. A safe haven from the troubles of the world. No wonder we are all so shell-shocked. No wonder emotions are so raw.

This, at the risk of sounding platitudinous, was an attack on a cherished idea in Australia: that the centuries-old conflicts of distant lands should not be fought on this soil. This was also an attack on the Australian way of life. Just as the Twin Towers were totems of American might, so Bondi has always been an emblem of the Australian mindset. Laid-back. Egalitarian. Fun. Grateful. That fabled democracy of the beach.

Today I write not so much as a columnist but as a community member. Bondi is our home. We live alongside Jewish neighbours whose houses at this time of year are adorned with Hanukkah decorations. Were we listening attentively enough to their fears? Did we as a nation do enough to safeguard Australian Jews? The answer, clearly and collectively, is no.

A woman sits on Bondi Beach before a “paddle out” to pay tribute to the victims. Credit: Kate Geraghty

As we reflect on the enormity of Sunday’s atrocity, and vest it with broader meaning, never should we lose sight of the prime targets: above all, this was an attack on Australian Jews. Bondi, a suburb that in postwar years provided a haven for so many Holocaust survivors seeking to put as much geographic distance as possible between themselves and the horrors of the gas chambers, became a killing field. A Holocaust survivor, 87-year-old Alexander Kleytman, was among the first named victims.

Understandably, words of........

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