Bondi is not a place Australians associate with fear. It is a place of routine, ritual and beauty: morning swims, surfing, skin browned by the Australian sun, kids enjoying the sand and beauty with their families, laughter and a carefree vibe that can only be experienced at Bondi. It is where differences dissolves into the rhythm of the coast, where people gather without needing to ask who belongs.

That is precisely why what happened at the shores of Bondi Beach matters.

At a public Hanukkah gathering in a park overlooking the shores of Bondi Beach, Jews were targeted not behind walls or under guard, but openly – visible, gathered, unafraid, spreading light on our festival of lights. Fifteen people were murdered, dozens and dozens injured. Extended impact on every single person that was at the event. Families were shattered in a space meant for light, yiddishkeit and on one of the most beautiful and recognisable places on earth. What unfolded was not only an act of terror, but the violent rupture of an Australian assumption: that here, ‘down under’, in our slice of heaven on earth safety was almost a guarantee.

For more than two years, antisemitism in Australia gathered momentum – quietly at first, then openly, then violently. Bondi was not the beginning. It was where the accumulated weight of warning, neglect, and delay finally collapsed.

Let me break it down. Two years of unrelenting warnings. Two years of escalation. Two years of words rather than meaningful action. Two years in which every single minor and major escalation that was not decisively acted upon led to atrocities not seen before in Australia.

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The scale of antisemitism since October 7, 2023

In the twelve months following October 7, 2023, Australia recorded more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents, the highest number ever documented nationally. The following year brought a further 1,600 incidents, confirming that this was not a temporary surge tied to overseas events, but a sustained and embedded crisis.

These incidents extended beyond rhetoric to threats, harassment, vandalism, intimidation, arson attacks, and coordinated acts of violence. Jewish Australians did not merely observe this rise – they adjusted their lives around it, how they dressed, where they gathered, and how/when they moved through public space.

Sydney, particularly its eastern suburbs, emerged as a focal point not by chance, but because Jewish life here is, visible, established, and unapologetic.

The numbers told a story. But what they failed to convey was our lived experience – fear in the mundane, anxiety in routine, and the creeping sense that Jewish Australians were no longer beyond the reach of hatred.

Let’s break down a few of the major escalations that in no small part illuminated what tragically occurred in Bondi Beach.

1. October 2023: The Sydney Opera House protest – The first warning

Within days of October 7, crowds gathered near the Sydney Opera House. Jewish community members were advised by police not to attend for their own safety – an extraordinary instruction in a democratic society. Still reeling and mourning from Hamas’s deadly attack and the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. It is important to note at this stage Israel had not yet responded and there were still hundreds of hostages including women and children in Gaza.

Antisemitic chants rang out beneath a national landmark. What should have been a moment of mourning and solidarity became a display of hostility directed at Israel and Australian Jews (who are almost all zionists).

Government response: The Prime Minister, the NSW Premier, and senior ministers condemned the chants as antisemitic and unacceptable. NSW Police announced that footage would be reviewed to determine whether offences had occurred. 

Failure: No immediate arrests were made on the night. Subsequent investigations did not result in swift or visible legal consequences. Protest policing protocols were not materially altered, despite repeated demonstrations in the months that followed where Jewish communities continued reporting feeling unsafe. The NSW Police then came out with what can only be described as a pathetic and insulting statement. They explained that the main chant in question being “Gas the Jews” has been infact analysed and found to be instead “Where’s the Jews”. That statement is beyond absurd and insulting. First of all, either of those chants directly imply that the protests were not Israel based in nature but infact had become Anti-Semitic in nature. The justification that somehow one chant was better than the other insulted the intelligence of every Australian. This became the first major red-flag that what we were about to see would be a government and authorities willing to excuse, neglect, justify and minimise antisemitism.

The event became more than a demonstration – it became a signal that public spaces could be co-opted for antisemitic expression without immediate interruption.

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