SYDNEY: People of all faiths will overcome “evil” together, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said on Monday as he laid a wreath at Sydney’s Bondi Beach to commemorate victims of a shooting that killed 15 people at a Jewish festival.
The Israeli head of state paid homage under rain and grey skies to those killed in the December 14 attack as he embarked on a tightly secured, four-day visit aimed at consoling Australia’s Jewish community.
“The bonds between good people of all faiths and all nations will continue to hold strong in the face of terror, violence and hatred,” he said in a ceremony outside the beachside Bondi Pavilion.
“We shall overcome this evil together.”
Herzog said he laid two stones from Jerusalem at Bondi Beach “in sacred memory of the victims.”
He welcomed “positive steps” by the Australian government to fight antisemitism, with the introduction of tougher gun and hate crime laws since the attack — the deadliest against Jews since Hamas’s assault on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli president also told reporters that he shared people’s frustrations about a rise in antisemitism all over the world.
A pained community
Among the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen, and 10-year-old Matilda, who was described at her funeral as a “ray of sunshine.”
Alleged Bondi Beach gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.
Many Jewish Australians have welcomed Herzog’s trip.
“His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community,” said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community’s peak body.
But some in the community disagreed, with the progressive Jewish Council of Australia saying he was not welcome because of his alleged role in the “ongoing destruction of Gaza.”
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found last year that Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians — “an entire nation” — were responsible for the Hamas attack on Israel.
Israel has “categorically” rejected the inquiry’s report, describing it as “distorted and false” and calling for the body’s abolition.
Protests
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged people to be respectful of the reason for Herzog’s visit, saying he would join the president to meet with the families of those killed at Bondi Beach.
The Israeli head of state said he has “come here in good will.”
He accused protesters of seeking to “undermine and delegitimize” Israel’s right to exist.
The New South Wales state government has declared Herzog’s Sydney visit a “major event” — giving police greater powers to control demonstrations.
Nevertheless, pro-Palestinian protesters were out in force in Australia’s two largest cities on Monday evening.
In Sydney, hundreds marched calling for Herzog to be investigated for alleged war crimes and accusing him of inciting “genocide.”
Crowds also gathered in the center of Melbourne demanding an end to Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinian territories.