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Anger over the Bondi Beach massacre spilled over as Australia's Jewish community accused the government of failing to halt a years-long increase in antisemitism that culminated in the nation's worst-ever terrorist incident.
Hundreds of people of different faiths gathered Monday near the site of the killings to leave flowers, hug each other and cry, or to show solidarity with Sydney's Jewish population. Many also expressed deep-seated acrimony toward authorities after a two-year surge in antisemitic incidents.
"There's an immense amount of anger," said Richard Benjamin, a 47-year-old who was attending a Jewish gathering with his family near the attacks on Sunday. He said the government had ignored warnings about what might happen without tougher action against antisemitism.
"There's a sense of ‘we told you so'," said Benjamin, whose grandmother came to Australia to escape the Holocaust. "It feels like it was inevitable."
Australia saw a record 1,045 antisemitic incidents in 2024, up 26% from the previous year and more than double the average annual tally from 2018 to 2022, according to a report by Community Security Group, a Jewish not-for-profit organization.
To many at Bondi Beach on Monday, the catalyst for that rise was an Oct. 9, 2023 march by pro-Palestine protesters through the center of Sydney. Anti-Jewish slurs were chanted during the rally, which had been authorized to take place by local police and who later launched investigations into the incidents.
"We've been talking about it for two years," said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, referring to the rise in instances of antisemitism. "We weren't listened to."
Antisemitism must be pushed to the fringes of Australian society and away from the mainstream media, trade unions and universities, said Robert Goot, co-chair of the World Jewish Congress policy council.
Goot urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government to do more to address the issue. "The time for action is now," he said. "This can't be buried."
Carly Shamgar, who was among crowds at Bondi Beach on Monday, said the recent spate of antisemitic incidents and Sunday's killings mean her children are burdened with the reality of anti-Jewish hate.
"We learned about antisemitism through books and museums," said Shamgar, a 38-year-old mother of two. "Our children are living through this in real time."
Shamgar said her 15-year-old son asks her why they are hated for being Jews. "How do you rationalize that to your child?" she said. "You can't."
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