London vigil pays tribute to victims of Bondi Beach attack
At least 16 people, including a British-born rabbi, have died and 38 were injured when two terrorist gunmen targeted a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach on Sunday
About a hundred people have gathered at a vigil outside Australia House in central London to pay tribute to the victims of a terrorist attack in Sydney.
At least 16 people, including a British-born rabbi, have died and 38 were injured when two terrorist gunmen targeted a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach on Sunday, Australian police said.
Yisroel Lew, a rabbi at Chabad of Bloomsbury and Marylebone, spoke at the gathering organised by Stop the Hate UK on Sunday night.
Wishing every attendee an “illuminated Hanukkah”, he said: “Just a small amount of light, a small good deed, can drive away a long darkness and that has always been the Jewish response, that remains our response.
“After hearing what happened this morning, the first thought was: how can we get more light, how can we bring more light into the world, how can we have more Hanukkah events?
“Go to Hanukkah events, don’t be afraid and celebrate Hanukkah.”
He told attendees that Eli Schlanger, a British-born rabbi who was among those killed in the attack, was a childhood friend of his.
“He really was a picture of kindness, of warmth, of service, of helping others,” Rabbi Lew said.
He then lit a menorah to mark the first day of Hanukkah and attendees sang prayers.
Fiyaz Mughal, founder of the Muslims Against Antisemitism charity, told attendees he was “honoured” to stand with the Jewish community.
“I wanted to come and speak in solidarity with you because the threats against you continue to rise, and it’s important that people like me make it clear that Islamist extremism, the hatred against you from small but entrenched parts of my communities, need challenging.
“The sense of intimidation you have to live through is appalling.”
New South Wales Police have declared the Bondi Beach shooting a terrorist incident, but the gunmen’s motive has not been officially confirmed.
Attendees at the vigil cheered for a “hero” who was filmed tackling a gunman and grabbing his gun during the attack.
Mr Mughal said: “There was a member of the Muslim community, Ahmed al Ahmed, who risked his life.”
Mr al Ahmed, a father-of-two, has been named by relatives as the man fighting the terrorist in a video shared widely on social media.
His family said Mr Ahmed, from the Sutherland area of Sydney, remains in hospital where he has undergone surgery for bullet wounds to his arm and hand.
Author and social media content creator Dov Forman, also speaking at the event, condemned a “pattern” of terrorist attacks against the Jewish community coinciding with Jewish religious festivals.
“This has become a grim pattern,” he said.
“First, it was Simchat Torah in Israel on October 7 2023. Then Manchester on Yum Kippur in October.
“And now today, at Bondi Beach in Australia on the first night of Hanukkah.”
Mr Forman accused the UK Government and media for fuelling antisemitism in the context of the war in Gaza.
“People want to pretend that these attacks come out of nowhere, but we here tonight know that they do not.
“They come off the back of months and years of incitement, after hate marches, after graffiti, after threats, after chants to “globalise the intifada”.
“We Jews have been warning governments and authorities again and again, across the world, about the levels of incitement taking place and the dangers of the rising antisemitism and Islamic extremism across the West.
“The mainstream media that fuelled this are to blame, the Government that refused to act are to blame, all those who marched, who chanted, who justified and excused the hatred are to blame, and unfortunately all those who stayed silent, who simply ignored this, are to blame.”
Mark Birbeck, founder of the Our Fight campaign which aims to convince non-Jews to stand against antisemitism, also attended the vigil.
He had an injury to his eye after he was reportedly attacked on Thursday when he and other campaigners organised a counter-protest to a boycott demonstration outside a restaurant in Notting Hill, whose owners reportedly provided meals to soldiers in Israel.
“It’s so important for the Jewish community to know that they have allies,” he told the Press Association.
“It’s also really important to be visible, to be out, to show that these kinds of things are not going to drive people off the streets.”
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