‘Tragic failing’: Tears as October 7 atrocities remembered at Israeli vigil
A former ambassador to Israel is accusing Australia of a “tragic failing” on the first anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attacks.
Coalition senator Dave Sharma has accused Australia of a “tragic failing” on the anniversary of Hamas’ brutal October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.
Addressing a vigil at the Israeli Embassy in Canberra, the former ambassador to Israel reflected on the dark anniversary and recounted the horrors to fellow guests.
“No one was spared. Families were burnt alive. Infants were slayed in their cots. Mothers and fathers were executed in front of their offspring,” Senator Sharma told the crowd of senior parliamentarians, officials and foreign dignitaries.
“At the Supernova music festival, women were raped, sexually assaulted and mutilated. Those seeking to flee were shot dead inside their vehicles or abducted to endure an unimaginable ordeal.”
Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that runs Gaza, killed about 1200 in their unprecedented assault. It was the worst loss of Jewish lives since the Holocaust.
Militants took hundreds more hostage, including children, as they retreated into Gaza.
Senator Sharma said a year after the deadly attacks, Israel was continuing to “fight for its survival on several fronts.”
“Israel’s enemies continue to strike it and make their implacable hatred, their determination to destroy the State of Israel manifestly, clear,” he said.
“And one year since that day of infamy, members of the Jewish community here in Australia have endured a level of hostility, vitriol, intimidation and aggression that they could never have imagined would emerge from their fellow citizens.
“It is a tragic failing of our nation that we – a nation that prides itself on our collective ability to welcome people of all faiths and ethnicities, to give them sanctuary from strife – have not been able to provide this most cherished part of our Australian community with the protection, safety and support it deserves at this time of grief.”
The senator’s remarks came against a backdrop of rising anti-Semitism that has manifested at universities and rallies on the streets of Australia’s biggest cities.
Flags of terrorist group Hezbollah, which Israel is fighting in southern Lebanon, appeared at recent pro-Palestine protests in Sydney and Melbourne.
Despite pleas from the Jewish community, political leaders and law enforcement not to hold protests around the anniversary, pro-Palestine demonstrations went ahead on both October 6 and October 7.
The reasoning, by protest organisers, was that October 7 marks the start of Israel’s military response in Gaza, which has killed upward of 40,000 and displaced a further 1.9 million.
Independent monitors and aid groups have also painted a dire picture of rampant disease and famine.
Calls for a humanitarian ceasefire have been faced the continued rocket fire from Hamas militants in the densely populated Palestinian territory, and Israel’s relentless pursuit to crush the Iran-backed group.
Addressing Monday night’s vigil, Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said Israel “did not ask for this war.”
“We did not start this war, but we are determined to win this war, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of the free world,” he said.
“This isn’t just another conflict. This is a battle between good and evil, between life and the forces of destruction.
“Yes, we are grieving. Our hearts are shattered, but our spirit remains unbroken.
“We will achieve our military objectives. We will bring our hostages back on and we will restore the sense of safety and hope that was taken from us.”
Mr Maimon said Israel could not let the war “end with us in the same place we were on October 6.”
“We owe it to those we have lost and to the future we are still fighting to protect,” he said.
Crowded into a large tent erected on the embassy grounds, vigil attendees, which included the likes of Foreign Minister Penny Wong, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and ASIO boss Mike Burgess, watched an at-times graphic video revisiting the October 7 attacks.
They also listened to heart wrenching testimonies, which prompted gentle sobs and teary eyes throughout the crowd.
Much of Hamas’ assault was captured in videos that flooded social media.
Labor senator Deborah O’Neill, who chairs the Parliamentary Friends of Israel group, told the vigil the “mass weaponisation of rape against women” was an “offence to people of goodwill everywhere around the world.”
“As a woman, the image of the blood soaked clothing of those women who survived rape on that day is seated indelibly into my memory,” Senator O’Neill said.
She praised the “boundless faith and enduring resilience of the Jewish community.”
“Maintaining hope, faith and the desire for peace once again in the face of all the darkness that surrounds Israel is a task of unbelievable proportion,” she said.
“Holding onto the belief that security and peace can and will be a reality for the state of Israel and for the Jewish people, is an act of immense strength, an act of staunch resistance against the forces both overseas and indeed here in Australia, that seek Israel’s destruction.”
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