They can’t extinguish our light: Bondi reflections
Australia is my childhood landscape, my parents and family are there — my grandparents buried in its soil
I grew up amongst Holocaust Survivors, silently listening to how they chose this place of refuge because it was the far edge of the world, quiet, decent and immune from the hate of the past
I chose to build my life in Israel not because life wasn’t great in Oz
But rather because of the electrical pull to live in the Jewish state. To be part of Jewish history. The vibrant energy. The adventure of writing a modern chapter in our ancient story
And also perhaps most compellingly:
The painful lessons of the past leading to the conclusion that Israel and the IDF are the most riveting answers for the future prosperity and security of the Jewish people
Yes here in Israel we live with conflict, this is the price we pay for sovereignty in our homeland
But Australia was supposed to be different, a place where lighting candles on a beach was ordinary
I was at Bondi only weeks ago, speaking to the community as an Australian who made Aliyah
I met proud, strong Jews, unwavering in their support for Israel and the future of Jewish life Down Under
But also ever so tired, unsure how much longer the ground beneath them would hold
I asked them if the ceasefire in Gaza would stop the hate
Over and over again I received one unequivocal answer: “No”
They saw the writing on the wall then, and we know it now
Since October 7 the heat has been rising
The ugly display of hostility on Oct 9th at Sydney Harbor, lists of so called “prominent Zionists”, protests outside synagogues and schools, arson, threats, chants that turned Jews into symbols of evil
I believed Australia was different
The ideal of a “colorblind society” where religion or background didn’t matter, a quiet capsule far removed from the world’s problems
There was no antisemitism because being Jewish wasn’t a big a deal
That belief died yesterday along with sixteen of our brothers and sisters
What happened at Bondi was pure evil
A deadly, targeted act of terror that turned a Hanukkah celebration into a killing field
But let’s be brutally honest with ourselves. This act didn’t come out of nowhere
It is the inevitable result of two years of being screamed at, dehumanized, and abandoned
If you spend years telling people that “Zionists” are Nazis, baby killers, and monsters, someone eventually decides to take those chants to their logical conclusion
The most extreme among an angry crowd filled with enraged flag-waving and vicious slogans will no doubt take the law into their own hands
Culture creates permissiveness. Zeitgeist legitimizes action. Politicians turn a blind eye. Jews are left defenceless
That’s what you saw in Bondi
You do not arrive at a massacre like that overnight. You arrive there step by step
Throughout the Middle Ages violence against Jews was authorized for these exact same reasons: find the most reprehensible thing known to society and project them onto the Jews (or today: “the Zionists”)
Australian authorities were warned that words matter
They were warned that this kind of rhetoric would not end in debates or placards, but in bodies
Australia’s leadership have failed the Jewish community
They offered hollow words while the flames of hate burned
An obligatory condemnation here and there, a little muttering something about free speech
A little nod to the sanctimonious protesters that they were indeed on the “right side of history” of a conflict thousands of miles away they know nothing about and have zero leverage over – gaslighting the Jewish community in the process
In fact the Director General of ASIO rang the alarm bell, calling antisemitism a top priority threat
Yet the political leadership stood by, refusing to enforce the law, refusing to shut down the hate
The Prime Minister’s pledge to not let antisemitism find a foothold is now exposed for the failure it is
I have no doubt that over the coming days politicians will predictably offer their platitudes, thoughts and prayers
Some will try to entirely recast the focus by narrowing this down to a technical debate on gun control laws
Some may even equivocate by “All Lives Mattering” the attack and seeking to blur the identities of the perpetrators and the victims – and in doing so purposely overlook the unique, persistent virus that antisemitism is
None of that will change the reality that Australia is no longer safe for Jews
The Jewish community will vote with their feet:
Some might leave – perhaps to Israel, perhaps to the US
Those that remain, either thinking twice before publicly displaying their identity or huddling in behind increasingly higher walls and tighter security
Physically sheltering and isolating themselves through absolute necessity from a wider society that grows more indifferent and in some cases hostile over time
We’ve seen this pattern play out elsewhere in the last remaining major centers of the Jewish Diaspora: in France, in the UK, now in Canada too
This is not just a “hate crime,” it is the ongoing reality of antizionism as a violent ideology
Antizionism has it’s own history and specific architecture:
In Iraq in 1948, prominent Jewish leaders were hanged after being accused of being “Zionist traitors”. In Tripoli in 1945, rumors of “Zionist aims” sparked a pogrom that murdered 140 Jews
In 1967 a state sponsored campaign by Polish authorities against “Zionism” pushed the remaining Holocaust survivors out of the country
The Soviet Union perhaps did more than most to push this line of attack: the infamous “Zionist Doctors Plot” in the 1950s targeted Jewish medical professionals on charges of treason
This later crystallized into the libel that “Zionism is racism,” turning Israel into the symbolic enemy of humanity, eventually culminating with an ugly 1975 UN resolution that legalized that slogan de jure
This is the same poison that flows through the veins of the West and the Middle East today
The “Zionist” is a racialized category used to justify murder
But here is the truth that must sustain us:
Antisemitism is a virus that constantly mutates throughout history and shape shifts to leech off the subtle discontent bubbling under the surface of every society
The narrative changes, but the hate is the same hate
And despite this, we are a people who have never fallen into the trap of permanent victimhood or despair
If we were a people that gave up, our story would have ended years ago
Perhaps even in ancient Modi’in, had Matityahu the Maccabee and his sons raised their hands in hopelessness at the size of the challenge ahead
They fought back and today 2,200 years later we kindle the lights of Chanukkah to commemorate their courage
I can’t help but think of the videos that emerged last week of the six heroic hostages lighting Hanukkah candles in the hell-tunnels of Hamas in Gaza
Their light beating back the darkness around them
In the video you can clearly make out Hirsch Goldberg-Polin, of blessed memory, speaking of the iconic image from Nazi Germany of a Chanukkiah in the window facing the Nazi flag in the background
Their resilience is our DNA
It always has been
Tonight, as I light the candles here in Israel with my wife and kids, I’ll be thinking of my loved one and friends in Australia, praying for a speedy recovery for the injured
And I’ll know that at this exact same moment, our IDF soldiers stationed across Israel’s borders from North to South will be gathering on windswept hilltops, huddled together around disposable tin menorahs
Lighting candles while trying to stop the wind from blowing out the tiny flames
We have an insurance policy that previous generations didn’t
Nobody can extinguish our flame
