Jerusalem, 9 February, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned that antisemitism remains a persistent and deadly force as he addressed a major memorial event in Sydney honoring the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack on Monday.
“The hatred that triggered the shooting at Bondi is the very same, age-old, plague of antisemitism endured by our parents and grandparents,” Herzog said in an address to thousands of members of Sydney’s Jewish community, alongside families of the victims, survivors of the attack, and Australian government officials. “Somehow, the October 7th massacre, the greatest mass murder of Jews since the Shoah [Holocaust], emboldened closeted antisemites, here in Australia and around the world.”
Fifteen people were killed and dozens injured when two Islamic terrorists — a father and son — opened fire on Jews who gathered at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach for a Chanukah celebration.
“Fifteen innocent lives, Jewish and non-Jewish, gunned down by cruelty, by hate, by evil, by extremism,” Herzog said. “The physical and emotional scars from December 14 will forever be a part of our two nations.”
Herzog said the Bondi attack came amid a difficult period for Australian Jewry, marked by rising hostility toward Jewish communities since the outbreak of the war in Israel. “I know also that it follows two agonizing years for this community,” he said. “Your Jewish identities became targets in Australia, just as you watched a massacre unfold in Israel.”
He described his visit as both an act of mourning and a statement of solidarity. “We had to be here with you,” Herzog told the crowd. “Hug you, strengthen you, and tell you: Am Yisrael Chai [the nation of Israel lives].” Herzog added that Israel’s leaders felt compelled not only to express support, but to demonstrate it through presence. “We have come here not simply to tell you we are with you, but to show you that we are with you.”
Herzog praised the Australian Jewish community for its long-standing support of Israel and its integration into Australian society. “Australian Jewry has been with us in our greatest hours of need,” he said, calling the community “inspirational in its connection to Israel” and its “proactive Zionism.”
He said he intended to use meetings with Australia’s national leadership to expand cooperation between the two democracies. “Our nations are bound by this history, by decades of close friendship, by this outstanding Jewish community,” he said. “And now, dear friends, we are unfortunately bound also by tragedy.”
“Together we grieve, together we remember, and together we will build a safer future we can share,” Herzog concluded, thanking the community and saluting the leaders present.
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