Israeli envoy urges Australia to better protect its Jews: ‘Only they are forced to worship behind closed doors’

Israel’s ambassador to Australia has called for greater protection of Jewish people in Australia as dozens of people line up on Tuesday at Sydney’s Bondi Beach to pay tribute to the 15 victims and those wounded in the weekend’s Hanukkah festival shootings.

The attack by two terrorists on Sunday was Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.

The death toll stands at 16 including one of the alleged gunmen, aged 50, who was shot by police. The man’s 24-year-old son and alleged accomplice was in critical condition in hospital, police said on Monday.

Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon urges the Australian government to take all required steps to secure the lives of Jews in Australia, with Sunday’s attack only the worst of a recent spate of antisemitic crimes in the city.

“Only Australians of Jewish faith are forced to worship their gods behind closed doors, CCTV, guards,” Maimon tells reporters in Bondi, after laying flowers at the temporary memorial and paying his respects to the victims.

“My heart is torn apart … it is insane.”

A string of antisemitic incidents in Australia has unfolded in the past sixteen months, prompting the head of the nation’s main intelligence agency to declared that antisemitism was his top priority in terms of threat to life.

“What one can expect when graffiti is painted all over Australia on synagogues, buildings, public buildings, calling for the death of Israel, death to the IDF, and then cars are put on fire?” Maimon says.