Funeral of British-born Bondi attack victim Rabbi Eli Schlanger takes place
Tributes paid at Sydney service as PM says surviving suspect faces imminent charges after antisemitic terror attack
A funeral has been held in Sydney for British-born rabbi Eli Schlanger, one of the victims of the Bondi terror attack.
The first funerals of the victims were taking place on Wednesday as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he expected the surviving suspect to be charged soon.
Fifteen people were killed when, according to local police, father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram allegedly opened fire on more than 1,000 people attending a Jewish festival in the Archer Park area of the popular beach at 6.47pm local time on Sunday.
Sajid Akram, 50, was shot by police and died at the scene, but 24-year-old Naveed woke from a coma on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to survive his injuries and face criminal charges, police said.
Father-of-five Mr Schlanger, 41, grew up in Temple Fortune, north London, and his funeral service took place at Chabad of Bondi, where he was assistant rabbi.
During a tearful address, his father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman told the congregation it was “unthinkable we talk about you in the past tense”.
He said rabbis would continue a tradition on Sunday, the first night of Hanukkah, of lighting candles on Bondi Beach.
The funeral of Rabbi Yaakov Levitan was taking place later on Wednesday.
Mr Albanese told the Mamamia podcast on Wednesday morning he expected Naveed Akram to be charged in the “coming hours”.
New South Wales (NSW) state police commissioner Mal Lanyon said police were waiting for his medical condition “to be appropriate” before any charges were made.
Mr Albanese told the podcast: “The evidence is that they were motivated by the sort of ideology of the Islamic State, that there were flags present in the back of their vehicle that they drove to Bondi in order to cause harm.
“This is a perverse ideology, a terrorist ideology that does not respect human life, and that is antisemitic in character, but anti-humanity as well.
“And tragically, we’ve seen that play out at that iconic Australian venue of Bondi Beach.”
Speaking later, he said: “We will hold people to account for what has occurred.
“We will give whatever powers are necessary to our police forces, to our security and intelligence agencies arising from this act of terror and act of antisemitism that we saw play out on Sunday night.
“We want to stamp out and eradicate antisemitism from our society. We want to also stamp out the evil ideology of what would appear to be, from the investigators, an ISIS inspired attack. That has no place, that sort of hatred.”
One of the two police officers injured in the attack has been named as probationary constable Jack Hibbert, 22.
In a statement, his family said he had been patrolling the Hanukkah celebration at Bondi when he was shot twice, once in his head and once in his shoulder, and had lost vision in one eye.
“Jack is just 22 years old and has only been in the police force for four months,” the family statement said.
“In the face of a violent and tragic incident, he responded with courage, instinct, and selflessness, continuing to protect and help others whilst injured, until he was physically no longer able to.
“Jack was simply doing his job – a job he deeply loves – driven by a commitment to protect the community, even at great personal cost.”
Mr Lanyon said he had met Mr Hibbert and his family, describing the officer as a “really positive young man”.
“We will support him,” the police commissioner said. “We will find appropriate duties for him.”
He said Constable Scott Dyson, who was also injured in the attack, was in a critical and stable condition after undergoing further surgery on Wednesday.
NSW Health confirmed 20 people remained in Sydney hospitals on Wednesday in the aftermath of the attack.
The local health authority confirmed one person remains in a critical condition, while four people are in a critical but stable condition.
NSW premier Chris Minns said the state parliament would be recalled at the start of next week to introduce a package of measures designed to tighten gun control and give police powers to block protests during a terror situation.
He said demonstrations threatened to “rip apart our community” during what he called a “combustible situation”.
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