The Jewish community and Australian leaders have vowed “never again” as more than 20,000 supporters turned out around the country to mark the first anniversary of the murderous Hamas attacks on Israel on Monday, October 7, during one of the holiest periods on the Jewish calendar between Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). There were also smaller anti-Israel rallies, but all events were peaceful
In Sydney’s east, 12,000 attended a candlelight vigil overlooking the ocean. The ceremony was punctuated with music with lyrics both in English and Hebrew and personal testimonies from family members killed or taken hostage in last year’s invasion of southern Israel.
NSW Premier Chris Minns told the crowd there was “no context, no history and no perspective” to justify the murder of an infant in her cot in front of her mother, the killing of an unarmed Holocaust survivor, or the massacre of young people dancing in the desert.
One of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s key factional backers, Mark Butler also spoke, delivering Labor’s strongest defence of Israel yet, since the Hamas attacks. He publicly endorsed its right to strike back at its enemies and warned that Australian Jews are facing anti-Semitism on a scale never seen before.
Mr. Albanese attended a vigil at Moorabbin in Melbourne’s south with 7,000 others after denouncing Australia’s 324% increase in anti-Semitism since the atrocities. “Jewish Australians have felt the cold shadows of anti-Semitism reaching into the present day and as a nation we say, never again,” the PM vowed.
Relatives of some of those murdered at the Nova Festival attended the Melbourne event. The final music track that was playing at the festival when militants invaded was played, before a minute’s silence was observed.
Earlier, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott told an event organised by Christian group Never Again Is Now in front of Parliament House, Canberra, that the Jewish people deserved a state of their own to be safe after suffering a long history of persecution. The event was attended by politicians and Christian leaders from around the country including from the Australian Christian Lobby and Family First Party.
Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon addressed the crowd telling them that every day over the past year had been painful. “In days of grief, we usually come together because our strength is in our unity,” he said. Later the ambassador hosted MPs from across the political spectrum at the Israeli Embassy to pay tribute to the victims of the Hamas attacks. He declared that his country had not started any of the the wars embroiling his nation, but Israel “was determined to win for the sake of the free world”.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles paid their respects at the high profile event at which some attendees openly wept and held each other as a video of the horrific attacks was played.
At Sydney’s Town Hall there was a sombre atmosphere as hundreds gathered at a vigil to remember the Palestinian lives lost in the Gaza conflict, and those who had been killed in Lebanon in a recent escalation of the conflict, while hundreds more gathered peacefully at the city’s Lakemba Mosque where they heard speeches attacking Israel and the Albanese government. In Melbourne, crowds of people wearing keffiyehs converged on the edge of Kings Domain, south of Melbourne’s CBD, for a silent march, without any trouble.
In Israel, people flocked to ceremonies, cemeteries and memorial sites around the country to remember everyone who was murdered or is still being held hostage, as well as the soldiers serving, and sometimes dying for, their country on all frontlines.
At 6:29 am — the exact minute Hamas launched its attack — the families of those killed at the Nova Festival, joined by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, gathered at the site where almost 400 revellers were massacred. They could hear rockets being launched towards them from Gaza, but it seems none caused any harm.
Photo: Lyle Shelton, Director of Family First
