Vivian Bercovici: Bondi Beach massacre is what globalizing the intifada looks like
More than 1,000 Jewish people congregated on Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, a festival of light and miracles.
What unfolded was disturbingly reminiscent of October 7. Two gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons targeting the gathering of Jews. Shouts of “Allahu Akhbar” were reportedly heard. One of the gunmen is captured on video warning people who were not Jewish to run away . The event was unguarded, but the nearest police station was a mere 150 metres away. Eyewitnesses say it took what seemed like an eternity for police to arrive and respond, between five and 10 minutes.
In the meantime, at last count, 16 people were murdered and dozens injured. Video circulating on social media shows beachgoers running — screaming children, the elderly, families, all ages. It was the end of a hot summer day in Sydney. The beach was jammed.
The Jews who were targeted were sitting ducks. It was like a flashback to October 7, evoking the scenes of Hamas gunmen mowing down young Nova festival party-goers who had been dancing at sunrise moments earlier.
Several hours after the Bondi attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke to the nation:
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah which should be a day of joy. A celebration of faith. An act of evil antisemitism, terrorism, that has struck the heart of our nation. An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian. And every Australian tonight will be — like me — devastated on this attack on our way of life. There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation. Let me be clear. We will eradicate it.”
Albanese continued to address Australian Jews directly: “We stand with you. We embrace you. And we reaffirm tonight that you have every right to be proud of who you are and what you believe. You have the right to worship and study and live and work in peace and safety. And you enrich us as a nation.”
Albanese should not be at all surprised that this terror attack occurred in Sydney. Since October 7, Australia has allowed Islamists to “demonstrate” and spread their virulent Jew hatred, unimpeded. In the days following October 7, Sydney and Melbourne streets were full of demonstrations calling for Intifada, to kill the Jews, and, of course, cries of “Allahu Akhbar.”
The same conduct has been permitted — even emboldened — in Canada, by successive prime ministers and leaders at every level. Law enforcement? They mostly look away. Or, as occurs frequently in Toronto, Jewish people are told that their presence is “provocative.” At weekly “demonstrations” by Islamists and other antisemites — who make a show of parading through a heavily Jewish neighbourhood in north Toronto, taunting residents with hate — police stand by.
For two years now, Canadian Jews have been told that the demonstrators are exercising their “constitutional rights” of freedom of expression and assembly.
That is simply untrue. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not license conduct that is clearly inciting hatred and violence against anyone. And that includes Jews.
There are many laws in civil statutes and the Criminal Code of Canada that should have been invoked to shut down these hate-fests. But they are not.
Why?
On Sunday afternoon, Chabad — the same Jewish outreach organization that hosted the event at Bondi Beach — has organized a candle lighting event at a plaza in Toronto’s north end. It happens to be the same plaza where the Jew-hating “demonstrations” have been held every week for more than two years. Where, by my count, more Jewish people have been arrested “for their own safety” than have hateful demonstrators.
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw sees his role as “keeping the peace.” I disagree. His job is to serve and protect everyone, including Jews.
Across Canada, this tolerance of public violence and hatred targeting Jews has been normalized. In fact — it has been elevated — to a constitutionally protected “right.” On which planet?
Speaking with the National Post on Sunday, Beni Sabti — an Israel-based Iran expert (born and raised in that country) — reported how Iranian social media channels have been cheering the Bondi massacre as a “celebration of the murder of Jews.” Among those making such comments is a close adviser to the supreme leader of Iran.
Asked what he would say to Mark Carney, today, Sabti did not hesitate: “Stop all the ‘Free Palestine’ demonstrations. All of them. Enough with the words. You must stop the regular Sunday demonstrations (in the Toronto Jewish neighbourhood). Put police and security in the streets. Otherwise, the extremists will feel free to do as they please.”
Sabti met recently in Ottawa with several MPs and senior officials from Global Affairs Canada. He said he attempted to raise the threat of Islamists — who are supported worldwide by Iran — but the bureaucrats were uninterested. They preferred to focus on Sabti’s analysis of Iranian domestic matters.
Many Western governments — Canada included — profoundly misunderstand the Islamist mindset, Sabti says. “When demonstrations by extremists are allowed — it encourages actions like we saw today in Sydney.”
Disagreeing with Israeli government policy is one thing. Demonizing all Jewish people — in Israel or elsewhere — is quite another. In Canada, we do not tolerate such smearing with any other ethnic or religious group. Are Russians accosted? Chinese people? Iranians? Afghanis? No. But Jews? For some reason, different rules apply to their respect and safety in society.
Shortly after the Bondi Beach attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued the following statement in Hebrew:
“Three months ago, I wrote to the Prime Minister of Australia: your policies are pouring fuel on the hatred of Jews that is spreading in Australia. Antisemitism is a cancer that spreads when leaders remain silent and fail to act.
“This did not happen elsewhere — it happened in Australia. Something terrible happened there; the number of murdered keeps rising by the minute. We saw evil in its vileness, and Jewish heroism at its peak.”
These prophetic words apply equally to Canada and Mark Carney’s handling of virulent, toxic Jew hatred in the country. Like Albanese, Carney flatly refuses to concede that there is any connection between his embrace of radical Palestinian nationalism and Islamism and the chronic hatred targeting Jews in Canada. The likelihood of there being any direct exchange between Carney and Netanyahu, regrettably, is nonexistent.
Social media has been flooded with horrifying clips of the Sydney attack, but one merits special mention. As the shooters are firing their guns, an unarmed man approaches one of the terrorists, tackles him and takes his gun.
He aims it at the terrorist. He then places the gun on the ground, leaning against a tree, and raises his hands, as if in surrender. He did that so police would know that he was not a terrorist. Extraordinarily quick thinking under pressure.
Ahmed El Ahmed, a 43-year-old man, apparently Muslim, had been shot twice and wounded before police arrived at Bondi. He reportedly owns a store in Sydney and is the father of two young children. In an act of extreme bravery and heroism he risked his life and saved so many others. Had he not inserted himself into the mayhem, it is likely dozens more would have been slaughtered.
He represents the finest of humanity and our gratitude and awe are boundless.
Now: May the political and law enforcement leadership in Canada wake up and step up to ensure that Jewish Canadians are not exposed to such madness. No one and no country can consider themselves immune to this terrorism. Certainly not Canada.