Bondi Seaside assault casts shadow on Israel’s Hanukkah celebrations : NPR

TEL AVIV, Israel — A rabbi with a blowtorch climbs onto a scissor carry and is hoisted as much as a large Hanukkah menorah.

“Are you prepared!?’ he asks the kids gathered under.

“Sure!” they shout in unison.

Rabbi Shaul Reizes makes use of the blowtorch to gentle the primary, rightmost candle and leads the kids and a crowd of grownups assembled behind them at Habima Sq. in Tel Aviv in singing the Hanukkah blessings.

It was at a ceremony like this one, hundreds of miles away in Australia, the place two gunmen opened fireplace on Sunday, killing not less than 16 individuals, together with a 10-year-old woman and a Holocaust survivor. The tragedy is casting a heavy shadow over the Jewish pageant of lights in Israel, the place individuals of all ages had been wanting ahead to celebrating — particularly this 12 months, as a ceasefire in Gaza has held since October and all however one of many hostages taken by Hamas-led militants within the assault of Oct. 7, 2023, have been returned.

A big menorah stands outdoors the partitions of the Outdated Metropolis in Jerusalem, prepared for each day ceremonies to gentle the candles each night time.

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The Orthodox Jewish Chabad motion lights these massive menorahs in cities round Israel — and all over the world — yearly. Reizes says what the assailants did on Bondi Seaside in Sydney, Australia, will not change that.

“What they wish to do is to deliver extra darkness to the world, and we’re certain that our mission now, particularly this night time, is to deliver extra lights to the world,” he mentioned.

In Tel Aviv, it is the primary time there are massive public actions in honor of the vacation because the COVID pandemic and the wars that began on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Hanukkah is again after a number of years of being canceled, principally,” mentioned Alice Eldar, as her toddler pranced round her with a glowstick, shouting, “Hanukkah!”

Eldar mentioned she was pleased that issues had been returning to regular and her household may attend public menorah-lighting ceremonies and purchase the normal jelly-filled donuts referred to as sufghaniyot on the bakeries on the town.

“It appears like we will truly have fun once more,” mentioned Eldar.

She has lived in Israel for six years and heard in regards to the assault in Australia from her mom, who referred to as from London to inform her.

“You are seeing an increasing number of of those sorts of antisemitic assaults and this sentiment of intense hatred of Jewish individuals once more,” mentioned Eldar, who just isn’t Jewish however is elevating her children within the custom. “It is actually miserable.”

In lots of nations, together with Australia and america, Jews are feeling more and more weak regardless of beefed-up safety outdoors their faculties and synagogues. In Israel, there have been assaults by militants — together with the Hamas-led assault two years in the past that sparked the Gaza conflict — however many Jews right here nonetheless say they really feel safer in a rustic the place the bulk shares their religion, and so they do not appear troubled by the absence of armed guards posted at such websites.    

That is why the assault in Bondi Seaside, during which two cops had been amongst the 40 individuals injured, could make Australia appear to be a scary nation to individuals like 28-year-old Raz Kahlon. As he crossed Habima Sq. on his bike, Kahlon mentioned he had been hoping to journey to Australia sometime to expertise the seashore tradition there.

“It was certainly one of my goals, to go to Sydney to surf there, to satisfy the brand new individuals, to satisfy the nice vibe individuals,” he mentioned, including that he does not suppose he’ll go now. Listening to in regards to the capturing is like getting “an enormous ‘no’ on the nation,” he mentioned.

A brief stroll from Habima Sq., a crowd congregated at 10 p.m. on Tel Aviv’s Frishman Seaside for a vigil to recollect the victims of the mass capturing in Australia. They lit memorial candles, positioned them within the form of a Star of David on the boardwalk and sang a prayer for peace.

At a vigil in Tel Aviv for the victims of Australia’s Bondi Seaside assault, candles are specified by the form of a Star of David, Dec 14.

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Among the many many English audio system there, some had an accent from Down Below.

“I felt that it was vital that I present up this night,” mentioned Ben Freeman, who comes from Melbourne and spent a lot of Sunday checking in along with his many mates and relations in Sydney to see in the event that they had been OK. He was relieved to study that they had been.

Freeman mentioned he grew up experiencing antisemitism in Australia. However the rise in threats and violence in opposition to Jews and Jewish establishments again residence simply turned an excessive amount of, he mentioned, and led to his choice to maneuver to Israel.

“When Oct. 7 occurred, issues shifted massively in Australia. And I hung round for one more 12 months and I made a decision to select up and are available to a rustic the place I would not have to clarify myself, and I might be free.”

He agrees with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who mentioned this week that Australia’s authorities “did nothing to cease the unfold of antisemitism in Australia” regardless of a wave of assaults in opposition to Jews, together with arson at synagogues, vandalism of Jewish property and antisemitic slurs shouted at anti-Israel rallies. Netanyahu additionally mentioned Australia’s choice to acknowledge a Palestinian state “pours gasoline on the antisemitic fireplace.”

“I feel the response to Oct. 7 was actually disappointing, from the Australian authorities,” Freeman mentioned. “To be actually, actually sincere, the blood is on their fingers.”

Eli Parkes, who moved to Israel 10 years in the past, mentioned the Australian Jewish group is made up largely of individuals whose grandparents, like his, had been Holocaust survivors. They moved to Australia, he mentioned, as a result of they needed to get as far-off as attainable from “the antisemitism of the Outdated World.”

“And it does not get a lot additional than Australia,” he mentioned. “After we grew up, we thought we had been the blessed Jews who did not must take care of all that. And sadly, the previous couple of years have proven us that that is not fairly true.”