Following the deadly terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Dionne Taylor, a prominent community leader, says the most distressing fact is that the violence was forewarned.
“Our government has utterly failed us,” said Taylor, communications manager for the Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council, in a Zoom interview with Digital. “We cautioned them this snowball effect would occur, and it was inevitable that lives would be lost.”
The shooting occurred Sunday evening during a public event, leaving at least 15 people dead and dozens injured, according to Reuters and The Associated Press. Australian authorities have labeled the attack an act of terrorism aimed at the Jewish community.
Police identified the alleged attackers as a father and his grown son. The father died at the scene, while the son was shot by police and transported to a hospital in critical condition.
Taylor, who resides a 10-minute walk from Bondi Beach, stated the attack was not a standalone incident, but rather the result of years of mounting antisemitism that authorities neglected to address.
“It started with ,” she said. “Then graffiti. Then public demonstrations. Then firebombing synagogues, preschools, people’s homes, people’s cars. And now murder.”
She stated that Jewish leaders and community advocates repeatedly alerted state and federal officials, cautioning that failure to act would result in bloodshed. Taylor referenced formal submissions and a comprehensive report from Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, which she said was recognized by the government but never put into practice.
Rather, Taylor said, the Jewish community was given what she called hollow reassurances. “We get these one-line statements saying there’s ‘no place for antisemitism in Australia,'” she said. “But they’re empty promises. No action has been taken.”
Taylor said this failure to act has had wider repercussions for Australian society overall.
“Multiple factors have caused the total breakdown of social cohesion in Australia: a lax immigration policy, admitting too many refugees from problematic regions, the growth of radical Islamism, and a government that has essentially failed to help or support the Jewish community and others,” Taylor said. “So while this attack targeted the Jewish community, it’s actually an assault on all of Australia.”
Bondi Beach, she observed, is one of the nation’s most famous and crowded public areas, attracting visitors and residents from across the globe. “People on the beach last night weren’t just there for the Hanukkah festival,” Taylor said. “Yes, those shot were festival participants, but hundreds of thousands of people sit on that beach on a Sunday afternoon. It’s summer. It’s what’s known as the happiest place on earth.”
“But that’s no longer true,” she added. “We’re shattered. Our nation is destroyed.”
Among the victims, Taylor said, was a 10-year-old girl who later succumbed to her injuries and a who had fled to Australia decades ago.
“Australia hosts one of the largest Holocaust survivor communities,” she said. “They came here looking for peace and safety, for a better life. And now one of them has become a victim of terrorism here.”
The violence also hit close to home for Taylor’s organization. She said Arsen Ostrovsky, the recently appointed director of AIJAC’s Sydney office, was shot at the festival and is still in the hospital.
“He returned to Australia with his wife and children just two weeks ago,” Taylor said. “He survived reporting in Israel after Oct. 7, and now he’s become a victim of that same violence here.”
Australian leaders have denounced the attack and promised to examine security and counterterrorism measures. around synagogues and Jewish institutions and Hanukkah events nationwide have been called off.
Taylor said the trauma has compelled difficult discussions in her own household about whether Australia is still a secure place to raise a Jewish family.
“After Oct. 7, many people made plans to make ,” she said. “We talked about it as a family. We decided we had a better life here. And now we’re asking ourselves, how is our life better here?”
She said support from non-Jewish Australians has been immense, with people queuing to donate blood and contacting them to offer assistance. Nevertheless, she cautioned that the government must take decisive action.
“I hope this serves as a major wake-up call for our current government,” Taylor said. “This is an attack on all of Australia. They’ve lost 15 citizens in one day and were powerless to prevent it. So if they can’t implement changes and improvements to protect not only the Jewish community, but the wider Australian community from terrorism, then they need to figure it out. And I believe they know they must do it. I just don’t think they know how.”