Minutes silence held to remember Bondi Beach attack victims

Mourners in Australia fell silent on Sunday in honour of the victims of the Bondi Beach attack.

The memorial was part of a national day of reflection to mark a week since the shooting in which two gunmen opened fire on an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hannukah.

A 10-year-old girl, a British-born rabbi and a Holocaust survivor were among 15 people killed in the attack.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was booed when he arrived at the memorial event – an expression of anger by Australia’s Jewish community against his government after a rise of antisemitic attacks over the past few months.

As the sun set over Sydney on Sunday evening, a minute’s silence was observed at 18:47 (07:47 GMT) – exactly one week since the first reports of gunfire at the famous beach.

There was heavy security at the memorial event. Some cordoned-off areas were guarded by armed riot squad officers who had their faces covered, while a police patrol boat was visible off the coast of Bondi Beach.

For many Australians, this level of security is an unfamiliar sight.

A large crowd – many wearing kippas, the Jewish skullcap, or draped in Australian flags – gathered to listen to speeches after the observing the silence.

Bee balloons floated in the wind in honour of the youngest victim of the attack, Matilda, who was nicknamed “Matilda Bee”.

Later in the ceremony, the crowd sang Waltzing Matilda, the song the 10-year-old was named after.

Soon after, the crowd chanted the name of another child – Chaya, a 14-year-old who put herself in the firing line to protect a stranger’s children.

Shot in the leg, she used crutches to take to the stage.

“If you guys get inspired by one thing, one thing on all this, be the light in that field of darkness,” she said.

The event ended with the lighting of the menorah – something the crowds gathered for Hannukah last week couldn’t do.

But Sunday’s memorial was not limited to Bondi Beach or the state of New South Wales.

In a nation-wide gesture of “light over darkness”, the windowsills of countless homes across Australia were lined with candles.

As Albanese arrived for the ceremony, one person in the crowd shouted: “Blood on your hands.”

The prime minister looked startled at the hostility and his wife Jodie Haydon grasped his arm in support.

At least one member of the crowd was tackled by police after moving towards the prime minister.

The Jewish community in Australia has repeatedly said this attack was a shock but not a surprise after a rise in antisemitic attacks in Australia since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and the subsequent military retaliation war launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

The overwhelming view is that more could and should have been done to prevent the Sydney attack from happening.

Albanese has acknowledged the criticism, saying: “I accept my responsibility for the part in that as prime minister of Australia.”

More widely, Albanese has been accused by some of siding with the Palestinians over supporting Israel.

The relationship worsened when he moved to recognise the state of Palestine earlier this year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused him – as well as the leaders of other countries that have recognised a Palestinian state – of rewarding Hamas.

After the Bondi Beach attack last Sunday, Netanyahu said Albanese’s government “did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia”.

In contrast to the reception for the Australian prime minister, Chris Minns, the Premier of New South Wales, was praised at the Sydney memorial service as an exemplary leader, partly for the speed with which he admitted government errors in the lead-up to the attack.

He also attended the funerals of several victims this week. Albanese was not invited to some.

“We are deeply sorry,” Minns said at the event.

“We grieve with you, and with humility, I acknowledge that the government’s highest duty is to protect its citizens. And we did not do that one week ago.”

The shooting had “highlighted a deep vein of antisemitic hate in our community”, Minns said, adding: “This must be confronted.”

The president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, David Ossip, was hailed with loud cheers as he called for a “Royal Commission which goes beyond New South Wales, to get to the bottom of how this catastrophe took place”.

Suspected gunman Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act. His father Sajid was killed during the attack.

Days after the attack, Albanese announced a raft of measures to crack down on hate speech and incitement to violence.

Shortly before Sunday’s ceremony, he announced a review into the police and national intelligence agencies.

“The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation,” Albanese said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

He has also said he will reform gun laws and the government has launched a gun buyback scheme – the largest since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which left 35 people dead and prompted Australia to introduce world-leading gun control measures.