Wollongong Chanukah event cancelled as 'City of Peace' expresses grief

A day after the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown reaffirmed that Wollongong is a city of peace and councillors observed a minute’s silence at Monday night’s council meeting.

“We stand with all in our community to express our grief at the heartbreaking loss of life and in outrage that terrorists have targeted a gathering of the Jewish community to celebrate Chanukah, a festival of light,” the Lord Mayor said.

Fifteen people were killed in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in decades as a crowd gathered by the sea at Bondi to mark the start of Hanukkah (also known as Chanukah) on Sunday. 

The end of the eight-day Jewish festival was to be celebrated in Wollongong this Sunday with the lighting of the Menorah, a symbolic candelabra. 

That has been cancelled, said the local Kibbutz Ex Volunteer Association (KEVA), which organised the event with the Rural And Regional Australia (RARA) chapter of Jewish outreach group Chabad. 

“Our Wollongong Jewish community together with Chabad of RARA were indeed going to light the last candle of chanukah this coming Sunday,” Dr Yoke Berry, facilitator of the Wollongong Jewish Community, told the lllawarra Flame on Monday.

“But because of the massacre yesterday we decided to cancel the event.

“Many people have sent messages of solidarity which is very heartening and much appreciated.

“At this immensely sad time our thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

Unanimous endorsement of Mayoral Minute

Monday’s Lord Mayoral Minute reaffirmed that Wollongong, as a City of Peace, stands with all members of our multicultural community. It formally expressed condolences, support and solidarity with the Jewish community, and also thanked the first responders and courageous citizens who aided victims of the mass shooting.

“We mourn that terrorism has come to our shores and struck at the heartland of Australia, the iconic Bondi Beach, known to us all for its idyllic location and lifestyle,” Lord Mayor Tania Brown said after reading her minute to the council meeting.

“And I say again that Wollongong is a city of peace, where many nationalities live in harmony, and when one suffers, we all share that pain."

Cr Tiana Myers said the shooting was a “hateful, anti-semitic act of violence”. 

“The victims ranged in age from 10 years to over 80, and there's nothing but cruelty in that,” she said. “We cannot allow or let radical extremists undo the fabric of tolerance that stitches Australia together … when tragedy strikes, we wrap our arms around each other.”

Cr David Brown pointed to the queues of people outside Red Cross donor centres volunteering to give blood, saying, “It just shows you that we can be a resilient society, and people out there have got some genuine compassion in the face of such terrible events.”

Cr Kit Docker described anti-semitism as “a scourge on our community”, adding: “I think how we respond to this is really important – that we aim and lean into unity and compassion and be kind to one another and stay away from those who want to drive division.” 

Cr Ryan Morris spoke of how he attended the Australian Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism on the Gold Coast in September.

“I went because I could see division and hatred growing, and I wanted to try and learn some mechanisms to go and help temper division down and get back to unity,” he told the meeting. “We're too late. A tragedy has happened.” 

Flag at halfmast

Today, instead of being flown to celebrate the Jewish festival of lights, the Israeli flag will be at halfmast outside Wollongong City Council's Burelli St chambers to honour the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack.

“It's been approved,” Cr Morris told the Illawarra Flame ahead of the council meeting. “We're going to be flying the flag, the Star of David.

“There was supposed to be a Hanukkah festival in Wollongong this Sunday. There was also going to be a lighting of the menorah. There'd been invites sent out. So this was already in the works.

“Last night's tragedy has made that move a little bit faster than what it normally would, and the approval’s going through, because we have to show [the Jewish community] that we are thinking of them and that we do care for them.”

After liaising with the Lord Mayor and local Jewish leaders, Cr Morris arranged for the flag to be delivered to council chambers yesterday.

“We don't hold international flags at council. If they’re to be flown, they've got to be donated by the community,” he said. “So I organised with the Jewish community to get it dropped off at council."

Cr Morris said it was important for the Jewish community to know their concerns are being heard. "Because they're feeling extremely isolated and have for numerous years. They’ve been living in fear for a while now.” 

He described Sunday's massacre as “sickening”. 

“We will work to continue having a community cohesion and a multicultural community that sees evil for what it is, and we hope for unity going forward.”

After Monday night's meeting, the Lord Mayor posted her minute of condolences on social media, concluding with: "May the healing begin."