After Bondi Beach attack, Diaspora Jews can no longer assume safety - opinion - Esther Davis

 

by Esther Davis

The Bondi attack did not come out of nowhere – and its consequences reach far beyond Australia.

 

Members of the local Jewish community embrace at the Bondi Pavillion in memory of the victims of a shooting at Bondi Beach, in Sydney on December 15, 2025.

(photo credit: SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Sunday’s Bondi Beach murder of more than a dozen Jews on the first night of Hanukkah did not come out of nowhere. After recent attacks on synagogues, Jewish businesses, and community events – each minimized because they did not end in death – a deadly attack should have been foreseeable.

It is a failing of the Australian government that it did not protect the country’s Jews during these times.

I grew up in Sydney, Australia, living in and around Bondi for most of my childhood. Today, the place I associated with happy memories has been desecrated by an antisemitic terrorist attack. Our community is shaken, and our trust in the government has been broken. 

I remember playing in the sandpit, learning to skateboard in the skatepark, and surfing on the beach. Whenever a storm approached, my dad would drive my siblings and me down to the promenade. Fighting against the wind, we would get out of the car to watch the grey shelf clouds come in, laughing in the rain.

Bondi Beach was a place of community, calm, and happiness. Yesterday, Australia’s most famous beach, well known for its dazzling views, warm weather, and amazing surf, was transformed into a place of terror. 

An aerial view of emergency personnel working at the scene of a shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, December 14, 2025, in this screen grab from a video. (credit: NINE NETWORK/SEVEN NETWORK/AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION/Handout via REUTERS)

Diaspora Jews live in increasing fear for their safety as their assumption of security quickly falls away. Hatred and cruelty threaten our very existence, lighting a fire that our government has had countless opportunities to put out over the past two years.

The list of attacks on Australian Jews since October 7 is long; anti-Israel protestors yelled antisemitic chants, locals vandalized Jewish-owned businesses, and Iranian-backed terror networks firebombed shuls, among other incidents. 

We can no longer take our safety for granted; the very people who want Jews out of Israel are ironically pushing us towards it by making us feel unsafe in our home countries. We feel that we can no longer be loud and proud Jews, instead treating our identities as shameful and something to keep hidden.

The best time to deal with antisemitism was yesterday. The second-best time is now.

Australia's government fails to fight or promptly acknolwedge antisemitism

Despite the government’s extensive promises to fight antisemitism, its response to the attack let us down. Anthony Albanese’s initial statement after the attack failed to mention Jews or antisemitism even in passing, and it took him until five hours after the attack to acknowledge its antisemitic nature.

When our government disregards our safety, we have to stay strong. Antisemites continuously try to break us, and we cannot let them succeed. 

As Hillel famously said in Pirkei Avot: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”

The writer is an intern at The Jerusalem Post.

Esther Davis

Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-880351

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter