October 7 anniversary as it happened: Vigils, rallies held in Sydney one year after Hamas’ attacks on Israel

Police have charged an elderly Sydney woman with making harassing phone calls to a controversial mosque, allegedly telling them Australia “is for Israelis”.

The woman, 82, was charged over the weekend after allegedly calling the Kingsgrove Arrahman Masjid and telling staff to “go back to your own country”.

A memorial service held for Hassan Nasrallah at Masjid Arrahman last week. Credit: SMH

The Five Dock woman allegedly told the person who answered at the mosque that Australia is “for Israelis” and called them “c***s”.

She made one call on October 1 and another on Friday, NSW Police alleged in a statement.

The mosque has garnered negative headlines since the outbreak of the conflict after calling slain Hezbollah fighters “martyrs”.

It reportedly continued that claim following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week, according to an article in The Australian.

The woman was bailed and ordered to front court in November on one charge of using a carriage service to threaten, harass or offend.

That’s all for our coverage of Sydney’s vigils and rallies commemorating October 7 and the war in Gaza.

Thanks for joining us, here’s a quick recap of today’s events:

• An American pro-Palestine activist’s visa status is being considered by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke after he called October 7 a “good day”.
• Sydney’s Jewish community and political leaders came together in Sydney’s eastern suburbs to decry a rise in antisemitism and to remember the lives lost on October 7.
• Pro-Palestinian supporters gathered at a vigil in Town Hall and a rally at Lakemba Mosque to protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon.
• A Sydney woman was charged after she made a threatening call to a mosque, telling the person who answered that Australia “is for Israelis”.

A mix of tears and cheers were shared by the crowd at Sydney Airport even as it began to thin out, families collecting their loved ones after days of uncertainty.

Ola El Eter, 57, wouldn’t put her grandson down after returning home from Lebanon.

Families embrace at Sydney Airport. Credit: Louie Douvis

“I am very happy,” she said after being reunited with three of her grandchildren. “It was very, very, very hard in Lebanon,” she said.

Her daughter-in-law, Rim Al Akkawi, said she was scared on behalf of her children when their grandmother was still in Lebanon.

“They were so excited” to see her, she said.

19-year-old Adam Hrachie watched a bomb fall before getting on the flight home. “I saw a whole building collapse 50 meters from my house.”

Living in Sydney meant he wasn’t used to what he saw there.

“It was scary,” he said. But being greeted by his two friends at the airport he said already felt great to be home.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is reviewing the visa status of an American law professor and pro-Palestine activist after he made inflammatory comments at a rally in Lakemba today.

Khaled Beydoun told the crowd of around 300 people at a Hizb ut-Tahrir linked rally outside Lakemba Mosque that October 7 is a “good day” and “not fully a day of mourning”.

American law professor Khaled Beydoun at a rally outside Lakemba Mosque.Credit: Facebook

“Today is not fully a day of mourning, today is also a day that marks considerable celebration, considerable progress and considerable privilege,” he said.

The rally, which was in protest of the war in Gaza, was held on the anniversary of the deadly Hamas terror attack on Israel.

“As soon as I heard about these comments I asked my Department to conduct a visa check,” Burke said.

“At 8.30pm they confirmed this man is travelling on a visa. I immediately asked them to prepare a brief so I can consider his visa status.”

The Jewish community’s vigil in Vaucluse has ended with a prayer for peace throughout Israel and the world.

Around 12,000 people packed a secure site set up in Christison Park in Sydney’s east, holding electric candles and listening to speeches in support of Israel’s resilience.

A Jewish community vigil in Sydney’s east.Credit: Wolter Peeters

David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish board of deputies, thanked political leaders who spoke at the event, including NSW Premier Chris Minns, whom he called “a real mensch” and a true friend of the Jewish community who had set the standard for leaders across the country.

He called Peter Dutton a “tower of strength” for the Jewish community in Australia.

“You have been our voice and our champion over the past year,” he said. Ossip said the Jewish people were “unbreakable”.

“It’s a war which Israel never asked for and Israel never wanted,” he said. “It is a war she will win in the face of all those who wish to destroy her.”

“Resilience runs through our veins.”

“There are a million people here,” a mother says to her son pulling him through the large crowd that has gathered in Sydney Airport as repatriated Australians arrive home from Lebanon.

As the first of the travellers from the repatriation flight via Doha pass through the mechanic doors, the already loud crowd erupts in applause and their welcome home balloons jostle when they do.

Joseph Kazzi, 84, sat in a car hurtling North to Beirut Airport as missiles flew overhead. When his neighbour eventually agreed to drive him there, he made the 15-minute trip in 10 and called it the “scariest drive of his life”.

On Monday, Kazzi’s daughter, Samara, waited for him in terminal one of Sydney’s International Airport for his arrival on the first repatriation flight out of the now war-torn Lebanon.

The small town that he’s from, Jiyeh, lies South of Beirut. The same night he fled, it was bombed.

“He’s really relieved,” Samara, 50, said of her father who is a diabetic and was struggling to buy medicine in Lebanon as the conflict escalated and forced shortages. “It was horrible,” she said. “He just made it in time.”

Mohammed Hodroj, 18, spent his Sunday at the pro-Palestine rally in the city. A day later and he’s at the international terminal to welcome his uncle to Sydney on the first repatriation flight out of Beirut.

“Anyone that’s Muslim is angry,” he said of the war. More of his family, including his grandparents are still there, stuck trying to secure a visa to leave.

“It’s better than him staying there… he might get killed. It’s safer for him here,” Hodroj said.

When the conflict ends, Hodroj wants to go back to Lebanon, the country he’s visited three times and says he loves as much as Australia.

“I hope for all of this to stop. We don’t want war.”

Sydney Morning Herald photographer Wolter Peeters is on the ground at a Jewish community vigil to mark a year since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

You can see his coverage here.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton, addressing the crowd, said there was “a vacuum of leadership” in Australia since a crowd protested against Israel’s response to the attacks on the Opera House forecourt on October 9.

Dutton said antisemitism had risen sharply in the past year and characterised the struggle between Israel and Hamas as one of civilisation versus barbarism.

Peter Dutton at a Jewish vigil to mark October 7. Credit: Wolter Peeters

“Moral clarity is important because frankly there hasn’t been enough of it,” he told the gathered crowd to loud cheers and a standing ovation.

“Instead we’ve got a moral fog. In the interests of moral clarity let me be clear - Israel has every right to defend its people from existential threats.”

“If we don’t take a strong stance now, we risk repeating the mistakes of the 1930’s,” Dutton said.

October 7 was “a day of depravity [that] awoke and exposed an antisemitic rot in western democracies.”

He pledged to confront antisemitism and, if elected, establish a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses and provide more funding for the Sydney Jewish Museum.

Hundreds of pro-Palestine supporters continue to line the streets around Town Hall as speakers at a candlelight vigil condemn Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Palestinian flags are littered throughout the crowd, which has steadily grown since the vigil began just after 6pm, as a large police presence watches on.

Police and protesters at Town Hall. Credit: Oscar Colman

Cries of “long live the resistance” rang out at the end of several speeches, with members of the Lebanese, Palestinian and Jewish communities praising soldiers fighting with the Israeli military. Children as young as 10 have given speeches condemning Israel.

Hundreds of the spectators joined in singing Lebanese and Palestinian resistance songs.

Several attendees covered themselves in fake blood and wounds, with one woman dressed in scrubs carrying a fake arm covered in blood and bandages.

NSW Premier Chris Minns praised the resilience of the Jewish people at a vigil being held at Christison Park in Vaucluse.

“12 months ago we saw a horrifying crime,” Minns said. “There is no context, no history, no perspective that can ever justify the killing of a baby in a cot in front of her mother.”

Premier Chris Minns. Credit: Wolter Peeters

Minns said he had seen a rise of antisemitism in the community and the “poison” of prejudice in the wake of the October 7 attacks.

“We can’t change the hate in people’s hearts, but we can call it for what it is - and that is racism.”

Health Minister Mark Butler, representing the federal government, said Australia stood in solidarity with the Jewish people.

“No self-respecting nation would fail to defend itself if attacked in the way Israel has been,” Butler told the crowd.

Earlier, federal opposition leader Peter Dutton received cheers and a standing ovation when he was seen arriving at the event.

An American law professor has told a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney that October 7 is a “good day” and “not fully a day of mourning”, as hundreds of supporters gathered peacefully at events across the city on Monday night on the first anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

The rally on the steps of Lakemba Mosque, planned by group Stand 4 Palestine Australia, began with chants including “from the river to the sea, Israel kills refugees” and “October 7 is not the beginning”. Attendees waved flags including those of Palestine and Lebanon.

Arizona State University associate professor Khaled Beydoun, who was among the speakers at the two-hour event in front of a crowd of about 300 people, said he was “feeling in a good mood today”.

“Today is not fully a day of mourning, today is also a day that marks considerable celebration, considerable progress and considerable privilege,” he said.