17 hours ago
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Speeches were delivered on the beach before the paddle-out.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt (centre right) is embraced after addressing the crowd and saying a prayer to hundreds of people gathering to paddle out at Bondi Beach.Credit: KATE GERAGHTY
“It shouldn’t take a tragedy to bring people together,” Fox, who is also Jewish, said, in tears.
Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt was at the Chanukah by the Sea on Sunday when the gunmen began firing at the crowd, and said today’s prayer marked a step towards healing.
“We pray three times a day, and today we were just doing prayers to bring healing to the space that has been contaminated with evil and hate, and just trying to uplift and pray for the souls and people,” he said.
Tributes flowed upon the footbridge from which gunmen Sajid and Naveed Akram fired indiscriminately on the Chanukah by the Sea celebration.
People walk past flowers and a chalk drawing of a menorah on the pedestrian bridge at Bondi Beach, where gunmen fired upon a Chanukah by the Sea crowd. Credit: KATE GERAGHTY
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley earlier walked across the footbridge, where there is a tribute chalk drawing of a completely lit menorah, a visitation stone, flowers and a sticker and drawing of a bee for 10-year-old Matilda, who was killed in the shooting.
The words: “the people of Israel live, may their memorial be a blessing,” are written on the walls in front of the chalk drawing.
“I wasn’t prepared for the feelings that hit me when I crossed the bridge,” Ley said. “I saw that bridge on television the night that it happened, and like all Australians, I was in shock and horror.”
Liberal leader Susan Ley at Bondi Beach on Friday morning.Credit: Kate Geraghty
A bullet hole in the window of a red VW Golf vehicle parked on the beachside of Archer Park in Bondi.Credit: KATE GERAGHTY
“Then I heard directly from people who sheltered under that bridge and saw the gunmen, and will never be able to walk through this part of Bondi again without all of those feelings coming back.”
On the beachside sits a Volkswagen Golf with bullet holes running through the back windscreen through to the front, an eerie remnant of Sunday night.
Bondi Beach incident helplines:
- Bondi Beach Victim Services on 1800 411 822
- Bondi Beach Public Information & Enquiry Centre on 1800 227 228
- NSW Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 or Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or chat online at kidshelpline.com.au
More Bondi terror coverage
Spartan and small: This is the dusty Philippine hotel room where Bondi gunmen holed up for a month
Hero cop identified: A Bondi-based detective with more than 15 years in the force, fired at the gunmen from about 40 metres away
Anthony Albanese had a choice to make: Angry about the Bondi massacre, the prime minister has laid out a plan to fight antisemitism
Bondi shooter interviewed by ASIO: In about 2021, one of the Bondi gunmen was placed on a ‘known entity management list’
