“What we have to do as community leadership – with the support of our law enforcement and government – is to make sure that our kids can continue to go to school.
“I find it really challenging to even be considering pulling Jewish kids out of school when every other Australian child can safely go to school without a second thought this morning.”
The flags at Bialik College in Melbourne’s east were flying half-mast on Monday.
Principal Jeremy Stowe-Lindner assured families the school had “best-in-class” security arrangements, including armed guards on-site and a range of discreet security measures.
Premier Jacinta Allan visits St Kilda Hebrew Congregation in the wake of the terror attack in Bondi. Credit: Jason South
He advised families to calmly reassure their children their schools were safe, and to reiterate that Jewish identity was a sign of “strength and not of vulnerability”.
“We should create safety without creating paralysis,” Stowe-Lindner said in a community message.
“Trauma research is clear: children need to see adults managing fear, not being consumed by it.”
Sholem Aleichem College principal Reyzl Zylberman said Sunday’s senseless act of violence shook his community. The college believes in proud Jewish expression in the face of hate and antisemitism, she said.
“Especially during this time, which coincides with our festival Chanukkah, we will continue to inspire our students with their traditions and with stories of the strength and resilience of our people,” Zylberman said.
On Sunday night, the first night of Hanukkah celebrations, organisers abruptly ended events at Caulfield Racecourse and Federation Square in Melbourne.
Victoria Police stressed there was “no threat known locally”. However, it said it understood the fear and concern Jewish people would be feeling.
It was the community’s “deepest wish” that other large festivals planned for this week go ahead, Levin said.
‘I feel physically ill at the thought of hearing who it is, because no doubt there’ll be friends, colleagues, family members, either of myself or people who I know.’
Naomi Levin, Jewish Community Council of Victoria chief executive
Premier Jacinta Allan, speaking outside St Kilda Hebrew Congregation on Monday morning, assured the community they would – with close oversight from Victoria Police. “There are Hanukkah events going on all week,” Allan said.
“It’s the perfect opportunity to show love and support for people of the Jewish faith and the Jewish community by attending a Hanukkah event, or indeed, perhaps lighting your own candle in your own home.”
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Only a year ago, Levin was standing in front of the firebombed Adass Israel synagogue in suburban Ripponlea and thinking: “It can’t get any worse than this.”
On Sunday night, she said she was dreading hearing the names of the victims of the Bondi shooting.
“I feel physically ill at the thought of hearing who it is, because no doubt there’ll be friends, colleagues, family members, either of myself or people who I know. So, we’re just waiting with absolute dread,” Levin said.
“We just want to live peaceful lives as Jewish people.”
Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg issued a damning statement in response to Sunday’s attack, calling it a “tragedy of unimaginable proportions” and saying Australia would never be the same.
“The massacre we have seen at one of our nation’s most iconic landmarks is the culmination of an unprecedented failure of leadership to heed the warning signs that were so obvious to every Australian who opened their eyes,” Frydenberg said in a statement.
The Victoria Police statement on Sunday spoke of the force’s “shock and distress” at events in Bondi, and said police stood with the Jewish community.
It was increasing resources allocated to its Operation Park, established in October 2023 to monitor and co-ordinate investigating offences associated with the Middle East conflict, which are predominantly targeted at Jewish people.
Victoria Police said the statewide operation would involve an increased police presence around places of worship and locations of significance to the Jewish community, including schools, synagogues and community halls.
Premier Jacinta Allan with Philip Zajac, President of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, and Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush on Monday.Credit: Jason South
Allan met with representatives of Melbourne’s Jewish community on Monday morning and condemned Sunday’s massacre as an evil terrorist act driven by antisemitism.
When asked about a pro-Palestine rally planned for this weekend, the premier said: “Now is most certainly not the time to use moments and opportunities to drive division in our community”.
State lower house MP David Southwick, the member for Caulfield, called the Bondi shooting an assault on Jews in Australia.
“This attack was an assault on the very existence of Jews in Australia. Many in the Victorian Jewish community know someone who has been impacted,” Southwick wrote on social media.
“This violence has been escalating over the past two years, and this tragedy represents a devastating peak.”
Labor member for Macnamara Josh Burns said in a statement Hanukkah was a festival of “hope, resilience and tradition”.
“But now it has turned into something of unimaginable pain. And our hearts are broken,” Burns said.
“Over the next few days, we will all work together to support one another.”
Victorian opposition leader Jess Wilson said she stood with Australia’s Jewish community.
“This repugnant act of targeted violence will cause enormous distress within Australia’s Jewish and broader communities at an already vulnerable time,” Wilson said in a statement.
Victorians, meanwhile, have joined the rest of the nation in answering the call for blood donations to support those injured in the Bondi shootings after the Red Cross made an urgent call for donations – especially of O-negative type blood.
“We are seeing the absolute best of humanity on display in our donor centres today,” LifeBlood’s national spokesperson Jemma Falkenmire told 3AW Melbourne radio.
“We’ve seen about 20,000 people contact us to make an appointment to donate. We haven’t seen that kind of response since the Black Saturday bushfires.”
Falkenmire said some blood had been sent to Sydney from interstate earlier today, and that LifeBlood hoped the rate of people donating would continue as the Bondi patients would continue to need blood for weeks.
With Roy Ward and Alexander Darling
More coverage on the Bondi terror attack
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