‘We stand together’: Jewish mourners pray for peace and acceptance

Thousands from the Jewish community have gathered in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for a solemn vigil to mark a year since the brutal ­October 7 terrorist attacks and to grieve the more than 1200 Israelis killed.

Jewish community vigil Monday night. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Thousands from the Jewish community have gathered in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for a solemn vigil to mark a year since the brutal ­October 7 terrorist attacks and to grieve the more than 1200 Israelis killed, with a leading Labor Minister, NSW Premier and Federal opposition leader firmly condemning the “poison of anti-Semitism” that has seeped deeper into Australian society than ever.

Crowds gave Opposition Leader Peter Dutton a standing ovation as he arrived at the vigil, which had about 12,000 people in attendance, before he said: “Israel has every right to defend its territory and its people from existential threats, from Hamas, from Hezbollah, from the Houthis, and from the Iranian regime which sponsors them all”.

Mark Butler at a Jewish community vigil Monday night. Picture:NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Labor Health Minister Mark Butler, whose Jewish great great great grandparents migrated to Melbourne 150 years ago, told the group of largely Jewish Australians that Israel has the right to defend itself and respond to terror attacks including the events of October 7, the Hezbollah rockets fired the next day and since then, and the 180 missiles shot from Iran last week.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said there was “no context, no history and no perspective” to justify the killing of innocent people by Hamas on October 7 – and that “shamefully we must acknowledge that (anti-Semitism) is here in Australia today”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns. Picture:NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Vigils took place across Australia on Monday during one of the holiest periods of the Hebrew calendar between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as people mourned those killed in the worst loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

On that day, 250 people were also taken hostage by Hamas terrorists. Nearly 100 of them remain in the tunnels of Gaza.

The subsequent war on Hamas in Gaza has left more than 40,000 people dead.

President of the Zionist Council of NSW Orli Zhava, standing underneath a blue illuminated Star of David, welcomed the massive crowds to the official ceremony for October 7, which she said, had “left deep scars on our ­collective consciousness”.

Jewish community vigil. Picture:NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Mr Butler, a key internal backer of Anthony Albanese, said “no self-respecting nation would fail to defend itself if attacked the way ­Israel has been”.

“Co-ordinated attacks from her south, north and east by terror groups and a state openly committed to the destruction of Israel, the only Jewish state on the planet – of course, Israel has the right to ­defend itself and respond to these attacks,” Mr Butler said.

He said that “history’s oldest prejudice, its oldest hatred – anti-Semitism – is growing and spreading here in a way we’ve never seen before” and “it must stop”.

Mr Minns said the evening was an important opportunity to stand against anti-Semitism, which is not “hermitically sealed in the history books – or even confined to conflict in the middle east” but was here in Australia today.

Peter Dutton pictured speaking at the Jewish community vigil Monday night. Picture:NewsWire / Monique Harmer

“There is no context, no history and no perspective that can ever 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 children dancing in the desert.

“And no just society would ever claim that there is,” he said.

Mr Dutton spoke of the “anti-Semitic rot” affecting Western democracies that was awoken and exposed on October 7.

He condemned those who sought “to distort, to deny and defend the barbarism that took place on October 7”, saying “it’s our duty to commit to our national memory, the horrors and the heartbreak” of that day.

Former co-chief executive of Westfield Corporation Steven Lowy shared a message to “our enemies” that congregated at the Sydney Opera House on October 9.

Jewish community vigil on Monday night. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

“I have a message for our enemies, our enemies from October the 9th at the Sydney Opera House and since, whether they chanted ”f--k the Jews”, “gas the Jews” or “where’s the Jews”, it doesn’t matter, what matters is that there are 12,000 of us here, right now, that’s what happens.”

He said the Jewish community is “only strong because of its institutions”.

“We need to double down on Jewish education. We need to double down on all of our institutions. This is the moment in time, if we miss one generation, history will be forgotten.”

Nova Music Festival survivor Michal Ohana told her emotional story of hiding underneath an empty IDF tank before being shot by Hamas terrorists. “To be here today with all Australian community, it’s a powerful experience for me … I’m here today to bring a light and hope,” she said.