THE Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Kanishka Raffel, has issued a statement embracing “Jewish neighbours and fellow citizens in love, friendship and support” in the aftermath of what he described as the “horrific terrorist attack on Sydney’s Jewish community” at Bondi Beach.
Fifteen people, who were attending celebrations for the first night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, were killed in the attack on Sunday night. Many more, including two police officers, were wounded when two gunmen, a father and son, opened fire on the crowd. One gunman was killed; the second is in hospital under police guard. Investigations are ongoing as to possible motivations. The attack has been declared a terrorist incident.
Archbishop Raffel said: “We pray to the God of all comfort and the Father of compassion, for the safety and protection of the Jewish community. We pray for those grieving the tragic loss of loved ones, those injured or traumatised, for the police and medical workers, and for our government and security agencies as they respond.”
As Christians prepare for Christmas, he said: “We give thanks that Jesus, a Jewish man, came into our world of sorrow and sin, to bring the light of life, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The recently-installed Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Ric Thorpe, posted on X that he was “deeply saddened by the appalling violence and terrorism at Bondi Beach”, calling it a “profound evil”.
The Rector of Bondi Anglican Church, the Revd Martin Morgan, which is close to the beach, said that, as his congregation was leaving church, having just prayed for Jewish people as they celebrated Hanukkah, they saw people running past. Some church members saw what had happened. The congregation returned inside the church for safety, and prayed for up to 40 minutes until it was safe to leave.
Mr Morgan said: “The Semitic, anti-Jewish religious hatred is something we’ve noticed after the last few years in Bondi and . . . we’re just praying that the Lord will not allow this hatred to grow and that we can shine as a light, as an individual congregation, as a group of churches in the parish, but also with other churches around about.”
St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, has issued a set of five prayers — for the bereaved and injured, for the first responders, for the community around Bondi Beach, for the wider community of Sydney, and for the coming of God’s kingdom — for use by churches, bible study groups, and individuals.
The Archbishop of York said on X that he was “shocked and horrified” by the shooting. “I am praying for my Jewish brothers and sisters throughout the world and especially those who have lost loved ones in Australia today.”
The mass shooting comes almost 30 years after Australia’s last mass shooting, in April 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site in Tasmania. There was no known religious or ideological motive for that attack.
Australia’s gun laws were significantly tightened in the aftermath, but recent reports of growing gun ownership have sparked calls for a further tightening. The Bondi gunman killed in the attack held a licence for six firearms, all of which were used in the massacre.
