The mass shooting at Bondi Beach cannot be blamed on lax gun control, the Great Synagogue’s chief minister said, with the prime minister seated beside him.
Speaking outside St Mary’s Cathedral at an interfaith memorial service on Wednesday, shortly after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Rabbi Benjamin Elton called on the government to respond to the report by the special envoy to combat antisemitism.
“We can have all the political disagreements in the world, and we should be able to express them reasonably, but hateful rhetoric has to stop. Demonisation has to stop. Pandering to movements that want to kill every Jew everywhere has to stop,” Elton said.
The task falls to all leaders, groups and communities to set an example, and while there are no simple or easy solutions, adequately responding to “this atrocity” will require wisdom and effort, Elton said.
“This event can’t be blamed on lax gun control, even though it is always worth examining who can have access to firearms.
“It will not be stopped by putting the Jewish community behind higher walls or increasing security at events, even though we do need, and we should be given additional security infrastructure and human protection.
“The answer cannot be ghettos for our own protection, that is both impractical and immoral.
“The most difficult issue, and deepest root cause, is the hateful and murderous attitude towards Jews, that have in recent times come to infest our society.
“Tackling that is a long-term problem, but the work must begin now.”
“It is not just the Jewish community that is in mourning, our entire country is in mourning, and now is time for a national soul-searching.”