Today, we all stand with Sydney’s Jewish community

Official national days of mourning are rare in Australia.

We grieve for monarchs and death during bushfires, however, today’s National Day of Mourning to honour the Bondi Beach victims is different.

The terrorist attack on that warm Sunday summer evening on December 14 that killed 15 people ended a kind of national innocence and wrenched Australia into a new brutal reality with few guide rails.

In the tumultuous weeks since, amid grief, fear, recriminations and politics, it has sometimes seemed that mounting disunity was threatening the common humanity that normally unites all Australians at a time of national tragedy.

The National Day of Mourning is a chance to put all that behind us, to reflect on the dead and wounded, consider their life and work, and pray that the right structures are put in place to prevent any repetition of this atrocity.

Flags will be flown at half-mast from federal and NSW government buildings and establishments and institutions that choose to mark the occasion. A minute’s silence will be held at 7.01pm, while an invitation-only Bondi Beach Attack Memorial Event is livestreamed on radio and television. In Melbourne, religious leaders from many faiths will gather for a vigil at St Paul’s Church of England Cathedral.

Based on the theme “Light will win – a gathering of unity and remembrance”, the national day takes its cue from the Jewish festival of lights. A commemorative installation intended as a visible symbol of mourning, remembrance and national solidarity was created at the request of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. It will involve light beams being projected into the sky at 15 locations around the country, one for each of the victims killed when members of the Jewish community gathered at Bondi Beach to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah.

A month on, the continuing uncertainty over the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has abated. Despite the swirl of politics around the birth of legislation, we can all agree that antisemitism is terrible and unwanted – and the Jewish community needs more protection.

We can all agree that antisemitism is terrible and unwanted – and the Jewish community needs more protection.

How to deliver these protections remains problematic and better left to the deliberations of the royal commission and other inquiries set in train by the horrific events at Bondi. But a debate about stamping out antisemitism is something Australia needed to have.

Announcing the National Day of Mourning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the spirit of national unity was vital to national security. “The last month has been a stern test of our national character … Australians have responded with the best of our national character: by working together and looking after each other.”

Many of us may have felt overwhelmed by the event itself and the arguments, heated emotions and continuing sense of crisis that followed. Some may have moved on. But today is the right moment for us all to stop, reflect and stand shoulder to shoulder with Sydney’s still-devastated and traumatised Jewish community for a better future.

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