Australia's Jewish community shocked at anti-Semitic attack

Chabad rabbis praise Australia as pluralistic country where such attacks are rare, unacceptable, but says anti-Semitic slurs, especially during Shabbat, are common

Reuters | Published: 10.27.13, 23:35

Australia's Jewish community feels safe and well loved in the continent, and hence Friday's anti-Semitic attack was met with shock. While Jews donning religious markings such as yarmulkes will receive the occasional shout in the street, physical attacks like Friday's, when six Jewish residents of Sydney were accosted, is unheard of, Jewish locals reported.

"It is hard to describe the feeling, Rabbi Shmuel Feldman, co-director of Chabad of the Australian Capital Territory told Ynet. "On the one hand, many Friday evenings, when we are dressed in Jewish regalia and kippas, we are met with hooligans who shout anti-Semitic slurs, so we are used to hearing insulting things and taking no notice.

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"But this time, when a family was attacked by gangsters upon returning from Friday dinner, this is something else.

Bondi Beach attack

"We need to remember that those boys who perpetrated the attack had in the past already served time in jail for previous offences. These are hooligans. The attack took place near a bar. If it were not for security guards who came running to attempt to stop the fighting, the situation would have been much worse. It is true that there is a feeling that Friday nights are dangerous, but still, generally we feel free and safe in Australia, this is an unexpected incident."

Rabbi Feldman, 29, a father of four, was born in Australia and serves as Chabad's rabbi in Canberra. He noted that "according to the latest census, there are 100,000 Jews in Australia. In Sydney, there are 45,000, Melbourne has around 50-60,000, there are a few thousands in Canberra and around 1,000 more in Perth."

The last anti-Semitic attack took place in Australia in 2007. "A 17-year-old who was returning home from a kosher restaurant in Melbourne was severely beaten with baseball bats," Feldman recalled.

"They told him 'you are a Jew and you deserve to die.' They beat him in his stomach and arms, but he managed to survive."

'Australia will not accept anti-Semitism'

According to Feldman, at the time – much as is the case now – the Jewish public had the utmost faith in the authorities in bringing the culprits to justice.

"The police and government's response was very strong," he said, "It gives us Jews the feeling that the case will be taken care of and will become an example that Australia will not accept anti-Semitism."

In a prior incident Feldman recalled, during Sukkot some 12 years ago, a group arrived at a Chabad organized sukkah in New South Wales, shouted Allah Akhbar and threw two fire bombs into the gathering, but luckily no one was injured.

Feldmen's brother, Eli Feldman, 33, is Habbad's rabbi in Bondi Beach, the scene of Friday night's attack.

"There is no feeling that anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise in the country," Eli said. "We have the privilege of living in a country that is very supportive of Jews and Israel.

"The attackers from Friday exhibited anti-social tendencies, but unlike terror attacks, it was disorganized. It would be very wrong to say the incident represents the entire country, and hence the Jewish community – as much as the entire country – is shocked. The story is front page news with everyone saying that such an event is unacceptable."

According to Feldman, Bondi Beach is a very multicultural area. According to him some 15,000 Jews reside in the area. "Bondi has seen very few incidents of physical anti-Semitic attacks. Thank God, we live in a country where most of the residents are good people who respect all faiths. We live here in peace with one another."

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