Gefen Biton, 30, the Israeli who was critically wounded in the deadly terror attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, will be flown to Israel on Wednesday after his condition improved. Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, spoke with Biton, and the Foreign Ministry prepared for the complex medical evacuation, as his condition remains serious. At the same time, Australian authorities decided to grant Biton permanent residency.
Biton, who had been working in Australia for the past three years on a temporary visa, arrived at a Hanukkah candle-lighting event at the beach last month with a close friend. He initially fled after terrorists opened fire, killing 15 people, but moments later decided to confront the attackers and ran to the spot where Syrian immigrant Ahmed al-Ahmed was charging one of them.
In footage shot by an amateur photographer and aired on a local Australian television channel, Biton is seen running toward one of the terrorists before being shot. He was wounded in the abdomen and, after falling to the ground, was shot again in the pelvic area. His friend was unable to find him amid the chaos, and at the same time Biton’s sister received a phone call from him in which he could be heard shouting, “They shot me, they shot me.”
So far, Biton has undergone eight surgeries during his hospitalization in Australia. Local Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke visited Biton on Tuesday and informed him of the decision to grant him permanent residency. “Gefen is a hero. Without thinking for a moment about his own personal safety, he ran to help (fight against) Ahmed al-Ahmed,” the Australian minister told Britain’s Daily Mail.
Referring to the decision, Burke said: “Of all the things he is now dealing with, at least this gives him one less challenge to worry about. I told him Australia is a better place with him here, and he is welcome to continue to come here for the rest of his life.”
‘An Israeli with a big heart’
Tom Cohen, an Israeli who has lived in Australia for six years, stayed by Biton’s side at the hospital. After the attack, Cohen said, “it took us three hours to find him at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Until then, we were constantly on the phone trying to understand what had happened. We tried to cover it from every angle. We quickly realized he was listed as anonymous because he wasn’t answering his phone and, as far as we knew, he didn’t have any documents on him. When one of us arrived at St. Vincent’s, he tried calling Gefen again and his phone was on the reception desk in front of him. It turns out they didn’t understand his name when he told it to them, so they recorded a different name.”
Gefen Biton seen charging Ahmed al-Ahmed during the attack in Sydney
(Photo: from 9news)
Cohen added that “it took several hours before they updated us on his condition, probably so as not to alarm us, and when they realized the situation was complex and that his family was in Israel, they told one of the friends that he was in critical condition and in the operating room.” After two days of long flights, Biton’s father arrived in Australia and reunited with his son and close friends.
“The heroic act didn’t surprise us, because that’s Gefen. He is our candle, our light this holiday. We love him and are physically embracing his father here. We are worried, but we choose to look at his act with pride. In the end, he is a simple Israeli with a big heart who ran to save locals he didn’t even know.”