Israel’s President Herzog visits Australia after Bondi Beach terror attack

Israeli President Israel Herzog has begun his visit to Australia in the wake of the December terror attack against Jews at Bondi beach, placing a wreath at the site of the attack as well as memorial stones, in the Jewish tradition, which were brought from Jerusalem.

The Israeli President, alongside his wife Michal, placed the stones at the memorial outside Bondi Pavilion, describing how the Jewish tradition of placing stones at gravesites represents “the endurance of memory, the weight of loss and the unbreakable bond between the living and those we have lost”.

The Israeli President went on to say that “these stones … will remain here at Bondi for eternity in sacred memory of the victims and as a reminder that the bonds between good people of all faiths and all nations will continue to hold strong in the face of terror, violence and hatred.”

Herzog went on to meet family members of those killed during the terror attack, with video footage showing him embracing Australian Jews who thanked him for coming.

In a speech given at Bondi Beach, Herzog described the “fifteen innocent souls who gathered to celebrate Chanukah, the festival of light, were massacred in cold blood by two Islamist terrorists.

“The world’s only Jewish state, the State of Israel and the nation of Israel, stood together with the Australian people. We stood with Australian Jews, for we are one big family – and when one Jew is hurt, all Jews feel their pain. That is why I am here today, to embrace and console the bereaved families.”

The co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), Alex Ryvchin, said Herzog’s visit would “lift the spirits of a pained community and, we hope, it will lead to a much-needed recalibration of bilateral relations between two historic allies.”

The Israeli President is also due to visit Melbourne and Canberra during his visit to Australia. He was invited to the country by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the wake of the mass-shooting. Thousands of protestors against the visit, including MPs from Albanese’s own Labor Party and representatives of the country’s far-left Green Party, later demonstrated outside Sydney town hall.