THE Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Kanishka Raffel, has told a gathering at the Great Synagogue, in Sydney, that Sydney Anglicans “abhor anti-Semitism . . . and will not turn away from anti-Semitism in silence”.
Archbishop Raffel was speaking at an event held on Friday to mark Hanukkah and mourn for the victims of the Bondi massacre on 14 December (News, 19 December).
It was intolerable, he said, “that over the last two and more years you have been terrorised in your homes, communities and synagogues . . . that you have to employ security guards for your places of worship, education, and society, as though this was normal or acceptable. It is intolerable that the streets of Sydney have been filled with voices of threat and violence and no one has silenced them.”
Jews deserved to be safe, respected, and protected, he continued, not just because they were Jewish but because they were Australians.
“We stand with you in opposing violence and hatred whether motivated from extremist religious racial or political ideology. In your scriptures, and mine, the first words of God are, ‘Let there be light.’ May the light of the Lord God Almighty shine upon you and give you his peace.”
He concluded by singing a Hebrew blessing, which the congregation joined in.
The suspected gunmen, Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of terror. A second suspect — his father, Sajid Akram — was shot dead by police at the scene.
Court documents suggest that the attack had been “meticulously” planned for weeks, the BBC reported on Monday, and that explosives, including a “tennis ball bomb”, had also been thrown, but had failed to detonate.
Bondi Anglican Church, which is situated close to the beach where the massacre happened, has been offering support to local people. The Rector, the Revd Martin Morgan, said that many people had come into the church to talk and to pray. This included Jews and people of other faiths, and none. A team of volunteer chaplains — flown in from the Billy Graham organisation — had been based in the church.
Mr Morgan and other Anglican clergy from surrounding suburbs had visited the makeshift memorial at the beach, he said, where “Jewish rabbis came and hugged us, grabbed us, shook our hands, and said ‘Thank you for your support.’”
