Calls to light a candle tonight to show solidarity with victims of the Bondi Beach Chanukah Massacre have been echoed across Australia, as community leaders, political figures and faith representatives urged unity, compassion and calm following the deadly terror attack.
Bart Shteinman, executive member at the Jewish Council of Australia, is hoping all Australians will join the Jewish community in lighting a candle this year. The festival of Chanukah is a celebration of light and miracles that traditionally sees families light candles across eight nights.
“The Jewish Council is asking … every person to light a candle in memorandum for the dead and for their loved ones,” he said.
“We’re asking people to put up that up on social media and use it as an opportunity to show support to the Jewish community and to everyone impacted by this event.”
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also supported the call, urging Australians to place a candle in their window at 6.47pm on Monday night.
People are being asked to take a photo of the candle in their window and share it to social media with the hashtag #lightovercomesdarkness.
At least 15 people are dead after shooters targeted a Jewish community gathering at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday night. Forty-two others were injured, with 27 people remaining in hospital and six in critical condition. Victims range in age from 10 to 87.
NSW Police have declared the mass shooting a terror attack, though the commissioner declined to speculate on motive or ideology. Police said they are not looking for any other offenders in connection with the attack.
The shooters were identified as Naveed Akram, 24, and his father, Sajid Akram, 50. The older man died at the scene, while the younger remains in hospital under police guard in a critical but stable condition and is likely to face criminal charges. Police confirmed the father held a firearms licence for recreational hunting, was a member of a gun club, and owned six guns, all of which were recovered.
The men were staying at a Campsie address in Sydney’s southwest but lived in Bonnyrigg in the city’s west. Both properties have since been searched by police. Two active improvised explosive devices were located at the scene and safely removed by the police bomb squad.
Accounts of bravery have continued to emerge. Fruit shop owner Ahmed El Ahmed is being widely praised after wrestling a long-arm firearm from one of the shooters, an act police say saved lives. He remains in hospital after undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds sustained during the struggle.
Surf lifesavers attending a Christmas party at a nearby clubhouse also ran towards the sound of gunfire, administering first aid to victims as shots rang out across the beach. Others sought shelter in the clubhouse, behind dunes, bushes and surfboards.
Among those killed was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, head of Bondi’s Chabad mission. He leaves behind his wife Chayale and their children, including a two-month-old baby boy.
New England Times publisher, Raphaella Kathryn Crosby, once an active member of the Jewish community in Bondi who knows a number of people affected, described Rabbi Schlanger as “one of the most genuinely kind and good people you ever met”.
His colleague Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, secretary of the Sydney Beth Din centre in Bondi Beach, was also among the victims, as was congregant Reuven Morrison, who came to Australia as a refugee from the former Soviet Union.
Peter “Marzo” Meagher was named as another victim in a statement from the Randwick Rugby Club, which described him as a “much loved First Grade Manager and loyal club volunteer”. The club said Meagher had served nearly 40 years in the NSW Police Force before retiring as a Detective Sergeant. He was working as a freelance photographer at the Hanukkah event when the shooting occurred.
The youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda, was taken to the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick after being injured in the shooting, but had lost a lot of blood and could not be saved.
Alexander Kleytman was a Holocaust survivor who survived the horrors of World War II as a child. His wife Larisa Kleytman, who is also a Holocaust survivor, confirmed his death while speaking to media outside St Vincent’s Hospital.
French national Dan Elkayam was also confirmed among the dead, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying France mourned alongside his family, the Jewish community and the Australian people.
Member for Barwon Roy Butler MP said the violence had shocked the nation.
“I am deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic events that unfolded in Bondi yesterday,” he said.
“This senseless act of violence has no place in our society.”
Vigils for the victims will be held across Australia and around the world, with a memorial established behind the Bondi Beach pavilion, as communities prepare to light candles in remembrance and solidarity tonight.
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