🔴 Website 👉 https://u-s-news.com/
Telegram 👉 https://t.me/usnewscom_channel
Bondi Beach should never be a place associated with terror.
It represents life, freedom, sunlight, families, children, and coexistence.
But on the first night of Hanukkah, as Australia became one of the first places in the world to welcome the festival of light, Bondi Beach became the site of a horrific terror attack against more than 2,000 Jews who gathered to light a menorah.
Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the local Chabad-Lubavitch emissary whose event was designed to “fill Bondi with joy and light” was murdered, along with at least 10 others.
That should stop us cold: Jews were shot for celebrating Hanukkah.
Australia can feel a world away from the Middle East, from Europe, from the centers of global conflict.
But in many ways, as my local rabbi Berel Gurevitch of Chabad of West Village has explained, Australia is the canary in the coal mine.
This was not random: A public menorah lighting cannot be concealed.
It was a visible and unapologetically Jewish event, and therefore it was targeted.
The message was meant to travel far beyond Sydney for Jewish communities gathering worldwide to light their menorahs: don’t assemble, don’t show up, don’t shine.
Earlier this year, I visited Bondi Beach to hear directly from Australia’s Jewish community about their experiences since Oct. 7.
What struck me was not fear, but resolve.
Even as antisemitism surged there, they refused to retreat from public Jewish life.
Jews across the world are now asking themselves questions no one should have to ask in a free society: Is it safe to attend a public Jewish event, to be visibly Jewish, this Hanukkah?
This attack did not come out of nowhere.
For years, segments of the mainstream media have recycled inflammatory talking points, sanitized terror and relentlessly portrayed Israel — and by extension Jews — as irredeemably evil.
And this hate inevitably spills into our streets.
Jewish communities warned governments repeatedly about the consequences of this incitement.
They beseeched leaders to draw a clear line: Calls for violence against Jews do not constitute legitimate political expression.
Those warnings were largely dismissed.
Yet Hamas slaughtered Israelis on Oct. 7 during Simchat Torah.
In the UK, Jews were murdered in Manchester on Yom Kippur.
In Australia, Jews have now been murdered at Bondi Beach on Hanukkah.
Condemnations follow. Carefully worded statements are circulated.
And the cycle repeats — bringing the nauseating realization that any Jewish community, anywhere, could be next.
The Oct. 7 attacks emboldened millions across the West to target Jews far beyond Israel’s borders.
Since then, Australia has seen a dramatic surge in antisemitism, including the burning and vandalizing of synagogues, kosher restaurants and Jewish schools.
Slogans such as “Globalize the Intifada,” “From the River to the Sea,” and “Death to the IDF” are treated as acceptable protest.
They are not. They are calls for violence, and violence is where they lead.
And those who marched, chanted, justified, excused, or stayed silent must understand their complicity.
To be Jewish and safe in the West today is, increasingly and devastatingly, a matter of luck.
The Bondi Beach terror came on Hanukkah, a festival that has always reminded Jews that even in the darkest moments, the response is to shine brighter.
Hanukkah was born in a moment when stepping back would have been understandable. Instead, Jews stepped forward and stood proudly as Jews.
That instinct has carried through centuries of exile, persecution and violence, and it is being tested again now.
The most powerful answer to hatred is not retreat. It is strengthening Jewish identity, gathering together, and adding even more light to the world.
That is why Hanukkah events taking place this week are not just celebrations, but expressions of resilience.
By lighting the menorah together, openly, publicly, and joyfully, Jewish communities are affirming something fundamental: fear will not silence us, and hate will not push us aside.
Every candle lit, every song sung, is a declaration that light is stronger than darkness, and that goodness, however fragile it may seem, will endure.
Jewish communities around the world are not cancelling Hanukkah events.
They are strengthening security, coordinating with law enforcement — and refusing to retreat from public Jewish life.
Just weeks ago, Rabbi Schlanger wrote to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to stand with the Jewish people, warning that history remembers those who abandon truth and justice with contempt.
Today, his voice has been silenced — but Bondi Beach must not become a symbol of fear.
Australia must act decisively to restore its promise as a place where people, including Jews, can live openly, safely, and without terror.
And the rest of the world should take note.
The canary has already stopped singing.
Is anyone willing to listen?
Jonathan Harounoff is Israel’s international spokesperson at the United Nations and the author of “Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomanLifeFreedom Revolt.”