Heartbroken Bondi mourners gather at emotional vigils
Australians are mourning those who have lost their lives in the Bondi Beach shooting on the weekend.
Source: ABC 7.30
Fresh details are emerging about the gunmen responsible for a horror mass shooting at Bondi Beach as Australia’s Jewish community mourns the dead.
Hanukkah events and vigils were held in unison across Australia on Monday night as thousands of mourners laid flowers and left messages to remember the 15 people killed in the massacre at a Jewish festival.
In an emotional ceremony at Bondi Beach, Rabbi Yossi Shuchat lit the candles of a 1.5-metre menorah, telling those gathered: “Lightness will always persevere, darkness cannot continue where there is light.”
The gunmen — Naveed Akram, 24, and his father Sajid Akram, 50 — acted alone and did not appear to have been part of a terror cell, but were driven by radical Islamic ideology, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
The pair told their family they were going on a fishing trip before wreaking chaos and devastation at a Jewish festival on Sunday night.
Sajid, a licensed owner of six firearms who arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1998, died at the scene following a short shootout with police.
Australian-born Naveed remains in a coma in hospital after also being shot and is expected to face charges.
Australian-born Naveed, who came to the attention of spy agency ASIO in October 2019 over his association with others and is expected to face charges, received critical injuries and is in a coma in hospital.
Neither of the men were on ASIO’s radar immediately prior to the shooting, Albanese told the ABC’s 7.30 program after being briefed by the spy agency’s director-general, Mike Burgess.
The younger Akram was investigated by ASIO for six months in 2019 because of his connections with two people who subsequently went to jail but there was “no evidence” he had been radicalised.
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Mourners attend a vigil at a memorial in Bondi Beach on Monday. Photo: AAP
The names of the 15 people who were killed were read out at the emotional Bondi vigil, with their ages ranging from 10 to 87.
The youngest of the victims was 10-year-old Matilda, who had her face painted just hours before she was fatally injured in the attack.
“I can’t imagine how we’re going to get through this,” her aunt Lina said.
“We will always feel the loss. I don’t think we will be ever happy.”
Retired policeman Peter Meagher.
Retired NSW police detective Peter Meagher, 61, and rabbis Eli Schlanger and Yaakov Levitan are among the first of the 15 victims whose names became public.
The death of Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman was confirmed by his wife Larisa, who told The Australian he was shot in the back.
Another victim was Reuven Morrison, a former refugee from the Soviet Union.
Tibor Weitzen.
French President Emmanual Macron said on X that “our compatriot” Dan Elkayam, 27, was also among the dead. He was a French national who had worked in Australia for years.
The Australian reports that father and grandfather Tibor Weitzen, 78, was a member of the Bondi Chabad Synagogue and was at Bondi with his wife and grandchildren when he was killed shielding a friend from the gunfire.
Marika Pogany, 82, a dedicated Jewish charity worker, was sitting with friends at Sunday’s event when she was fatally shot, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Marika Pogany.
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Constable Scott Dyson and another unnamed NSW Police officer are among the injured and are both in a serious but stable condition.
Mourners in Melbourne gathered for The Pillars of Light Festival on Monday, singing, praying and watching Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann light the menorah.
Addressing the crowd, Kaltmann thanked everyone “for showing up and being here in solidarity”.
“We gather not in fear, but in strength,” he said.
“We will light up our hearts and shine away this darkness by lighting the menorah.”
Reuven Morrison, a former refugee from the Soviet Union.
In Sydney’s east, hundreds of people attended a prayer vigil at the Chabad Bondi synagogue, the place of worship for many of those caught up in Sunday’s attack.
Harry Guth said he was there to show solidarity with those killed and injured in the attack.
“I must admit it wasn’t a surprise,” Guth said.
“Obviously I’m shocked but something was waiting to happen if you get burnt cars, burnt shuls (synagogues), burnt restaurants, graffiti on walls.”
Their families have expressed “heartfelt gratitude” to the first responders and hospital workers whose actions saved lives.
Members of Melbourne’s Jewish community also met on Monday to celebrate the second night of Hanukkah at St Kilda beach and Caulfield Shule in the city’s south-east.
Rabbi Effy Block from the Chabad St Kilda said his congregation were reeling from “broken hearts, deep shock, and profound pain”.
“Yes, our hearts are heavy. Yes, we are grieving … but we will not be broken,” he said.
“We will not be silenced and we will not give in to fear.”
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-with AAP
