Jewish community asked for stronger police presence at Hanukkah festival

5 hours ago 2

NSW Police did not heed requests for a stronger police presence ahead of the deadly Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration, even after the Jewish community’s security group had deemed the event high-risk.

Community Security Group, the volunteer-led organisation that arranges security for synagogues, Jewish schools and community events and liaises with police on behalf of Jewish organisations, determined the annual Hanukkah gathering, one of the biggest on the Sydney Jewish community’s calendar, was high-risk based on its size, location and profile.

Rabbi Yossi Friedman (right) leads people in prayers at Archer Park last week.

The risk assessment led CSG to ask NSW Police for multiple officers to be stationed at the December 14 celebration for its duration.

Instead, junior officers roaming Bondi Beach on a broad patrol had been instructed to monitor the event intermittently, a source with knowledge of the arrangements told this masthead. The officers happened to be checking in at the event when the attack began, and were inside the barrier.

NSW Police and security agencies have come under scrutiny in the aftermath of the alleged massacre of 15 people by two shooters wielding high-powered rifles. The light presence of officers dedicated to the Archer Park event underwhelmed the organisers of the celebration, Chabad Bondi.

Amid widespread criticism, Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon and Premier Chris Minns have defended the actions of officers who responded to the shooting, but have not revealed details of the interactions between police and community leaders in the lead-up to the attack.

Exact details of security arrangements remain unclear partly because Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Chabad Bondi’s general manager who registered the event with CSG, was killed in the alleged terrorist attack.

CSG, which maintains a low public profile and a close relationship with NSW Police, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But multiple sources with knowledge of the security arrangements with police, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject, confirmed CSG had deemed the event had a significant risk profile and that it had requested a stronger police presence than what was ultimately deployed at the beach ahead of the celebration.

Mendy Ulman, son of Chabad Bondi’s chief rabbi who organised the event, described Levitan as “hyper intense” on all security matters.

Ulman said the event was considered high risk because it was held in Archer Park every year. The locations of other Jewish community events, generally not held in public places, are held tightly by organisers and are revealed only to attendees hours before starting.

He recalled that, at last year’s event, there were “a lot more police present”, and that a police car had been parked within the fences of the event and that some officers were stationed mostly at the entrance.

“Perhaps it would have been effective if there was actually police standing outside the barricade, but all I saw was two cops walking around inside the barricade, and CSG were outside, at the entrance,” Ulman said.

A CSG volunteer was among those injured.

Lanyon has refused to answer a growing list of questions in the days since the mass shooting, including about what concerns community members and organisers raised ahead of the Hanukkah by the Sea event, what risk assessment, if any, was done, and why there were no heavily armed officers at Bondi Beach.

Two junior officers, Constable Scott Dyson and Probationary Constable Jack Hibbert, who had a combined 21 months of experience between them, were critically injured in the shooting.

Emergency services responding to the shooting at Bondi Beach on December 14.

Hibbert and his partner were patrolling the park when father and son Sajid, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, started shooting at a crowd of Jewish families. Hibbert was shot in the head and the shoulder as he tried to get members of the public to safety.

Dyson is believed to have been shot when he and his partner’s car was sprayed with bullets as they arrived at the park shortly after the Akrams began firing from a footbridge off Campbell Parade.

NSW Police declined to comment on whether a larger police presence had been requested when contacted. The circumstances of December 14 are now subject to three separate ongoing investigations: a critical incident investigation, a criminal investigation and a coronial inquest.

The spokesman deferred to Lanyon’s comments at a press conference on December 16, where the commissioner was asked why additional resources had not been present.

“That is subject to the investigation. We base our policing response on the threat that exists at the time. A lot of work is done between ourselves and the Jewish community. Bondi Beach is a large and public area. We regularly patrol that area, as we did on that day,” Lanyon said.

A spokeswoman for NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the minister was unaware of CSG’s request being made.