Melbourne-Israelis share horror and grief of friends killed trying to protect their community
Relatives and friends of Melburnians have been slaughtered after being caught up in the carnage in Israel. Meanwhile, the Jewish community has gathered at an event in Caulfield.
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Two little boys cowered in a cupboard at their family home in Kfar Aza, southern Israel, on Saturday as gunfire echoed around them.
Just metres away their parents lay dead on the floor.
More than 100 terrorists had flooded their tiny kibbutz (community) on the border of Gaza and Israel, shooting their parents and baby sister dead as they went door to door dragging people from their homes, slaughtering families and kidnapping civilians, young and old.
This was the horrific plight of family friends of Melbourne-Israeli woman Keren Lewinsohn who were among the hundreds of innocent civilians killed or kidnapped by Hamas.
Ms Lewinsohn, of Caulfield South, said her parents – who are also from Melbourne and were also in the kibbutz – “miraculously” survived the onslaught.
Her mum and dad, who were eventually rescued by Israeli soldiers, told her the boys – both under seven years old – hid for hours as they waited to be saved.
“Their grandma was on holiday, so they called her overseas from the cupboard, but she couldn’t organise any help for the kids because there were terrorists everywhere,” she told the Herald Sun.
“They were in the house on their own for eight hours.”
Ms Lewinsohn’s parents, meanwhile, hid in a safe room, reading the desperate pleas from neighbours for help which flooded the kibbutz community group chat.
She said: “People were saying, they’re in our house, please come and help us now. They’re killing us, they’re taking our kids.”
Several other friends had been killed or were missing in the chaos, she said.
“Another couple, new parents just a few years younger than me, were murdered in the house and their twin babies were left on their own,” she said.
“There’s other parents or friends that are missing. Parents of another friend that is confirmed to be kidnapped,” she said.
“And these are only some of the stories.”
Her brother was in a bomb shelter with his wife and three kids as grenades were thrown into nearby homes, while her sister “hid under her bed alone praying”.
“We didn’t hear from her for 12 hours,” she said. “We were sure that she was either killed or kidnapped.”
Fellow Melburnian Orit Elkayam-Cohen, of Caulfield South, told how several friends were killed trying to protect their community.
“I have friends in … I had friends in a moshav (Israeli town) that was heavily attacked by the terrorists and some of my friends died protecting the moshav,” she said.
“There are so many people I know now that are missing.”
Ms Elkayam-Cohen said her parents, in their 80s and living 10 minutes from Gaza, had not left their safe room for more than 30 hours.
Messages from loved ones also flooded Tai Menahem’s phone, with news his cousins had lost friends who were among the music festival-goers massacred or kidnapped.
The 24-year-old from Balaclava said his social media feed had been inundated with stories of missing friends and loved ones who attended the festival for peace where 260 bodies were discovered.
“My cousins’ friends have been murdered and kidnapped. Most of my family are in bomb shelters,” he said.
Jewish community gather for prayers and tears
As Melbourne’s Jewish community wrestles with grief, a leading rabbi and his son have been subjected to a stream of antisemitic abuse in the street.
The Caulfield-based rabbi – who wished not to be named due to safety concerns – was walking home with his 10-year-old son on Sunday afternoon when two men pulled their car over to the side of the road and began abusing them.
“You f***ing Jews, you dogs, die,” they shouted.
The rabbi, who had no doubt the heinous diatribe was connected with the conflict, said it had been a very distressing 48 hours.
“My son couldn’t understand the hate and I had to explain to him the sad reality,” he said. “As a man of faith I have to believe that there is light at the end of this dark tunnel.”
Mounted police were seen monitoring main roads in St Kilda East on Monday afternoon.
The officers were patrolling the area in time for the school rush.
Victoria Police said: “We are mindful of the potential for escalating tension including at places of worship and local police have been briefed to respond accordingly.”
A rally in support of Palestine has been organised for Sunday, run by Melbourne’s Free Palestine movement, with several hundred people indicating they will attend.
The organisers of the event were contacted for comment, but did not respond.
Hundreds of members of the Jewish community and their supporters packed into Caulfield Synagogue on Monday night to stand in solidarity against the horror unfolding in Israel.
Defence Minister Richard Marles was among a dozen current and former politicians from both sides of politics – Jewish and non-Jewish – who assured the community they had the government and opposition’s full support.
He received a round of applause as he recognised Israel’s right to exist in peace.
“In 2023, it is time around the world, that there is an acknowledgment that Israel has the right to exist in peace and in security,” he said.
He also reflected on his own children attending music festivals, saying the unexpectedness of the horrific attack was “the very nature of terrorism”.
“We think about the motivation of those young people who went to the Supernova festival … it could not be further removed from what they then confronted,” he said.
“In the context of expected normality, it is horribly unimaginable.”
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