26^th October 2013
“Although the police invest­ig­a­tions are still pro­ceed­ing, the vicious attack on a Jewish family in Bondi early on Saturday morning appears to have been the most serious incident of spon­tan­eous antisemitic violence in Australia in living memory”, said the Executive Director of the ECAJ, Peter Wertheim.

Our thoughts go out to the whole family and we pray that they will suffer no lasting ill effects from the ugly ordeal they have been through.
We also thank the police for respond­ing as swiftly and effect­ively as they did. We espe­cially thank the six employees from the Beach Road Hotel and a passing taxi driver who inter­vened to end the violence and apprehend some of the alleged assail­ants. Because of their efforts we expect all members of the gang involved in the incident to be rounded up by the police and charged and pro­sec­uted to the full extent of the law. The brave and selfless actions of these bystand­ers is a much more accurate reflec­tion of the attitude of Aus­trali­ans to their Jewish fellow citizens, than the hate-filled violence of the group who allegedly attacked the family.
I grew up in Bondi and never exper­i­enced a single incident of antisemitism, not even verbal. For decades Bondi has been famous for its relaxed, free-wheeling and cul­tur­ally diverse way of life. Many Jewish people live there. There are numerous syn­agogues, kosher eateries, a kosher butcher, kosher bakeries, kosher grocery stores and Jewish communal insti­tu­tions. It is not uncommon to see men walking along the street wearing kippot (Jewish head coverings) or Chasidic garb, often strolling with their families. Occa­sion­ally the y have been the objects of verbal abuse but violence has been rare. Last night’s violence was excep­tion­al.
As Australia’s pop­u­la­tion grows and becomes more cul­tur­ally diverse, gov­ern­ments will need to be increas­ingly proactive to ensure that racism is kept in check and that social cohesion is nurtured. Australia’s National Anti-Racism strategy needs to be strengthened and integ­rated into the education cur­riculum. This is also not the time to water down Australia’s laws against incite­ment to racial hatred. On the contrary, the incident in Bondi illus­trates that the current review by the NSW gov­ern­ment of the criminal law against serious incite­ment to racial hatred needs to be given high priority. It also high­lights the need for the Federal gov­ern­ment to provide assist­ance to the Jewish community to meet the high costs of securing our communal insti­tu­tions, not only our schools.

Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected]