‘We warned them’ Jewish leader says after Bondi Beach terror attack that kills 15

In the aftermath of a deadly terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney s Bondi Beach Dionne Taylor a senior figure in the society says the greater part painful reality is that the violence did not come without warning We have been entirely let down by our establishment Taylor the communications manager of the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council informed Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview We warned them that this snowball effect was going to happen and it was only a matter of time before someone got killed The shooting took place Sunday evening during a population Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach killing at least people and wounding dozens according to Reuters and the Associated Press Australian executives have described the attack as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish population Police mentioned the suspected attackers were a father and his adult son The father was killed at the scene while the son was shot by police and taken to a hospital in critical condition GAL GADOT ASHTON KUTCHER CONDEMN ANTISEMITIC TERROR ATTACK AT BONDI BEACH HANUKKAH EVENTTaylor who lives a -minute walk from Bondi Beach noted the attack was not an isolated act of violence but the culmination of years of escalating antisemitism that agents failed to confront It started with hate speech she noted Then graffiti Then masses demonstrations Then firebombing synagogues preschools people s homes people s cars And now murder She stated Jewish leaders and district representatives repeatedly raised alarms with state and federal authorities warning that inaction would lead to bloodshed Taylor pointed to formal submissions and a detailed analysis produced by Australia s special envoy to combat antisemitism which she explained was acknowledged by the administration but never implemented PATRICIA HEATON WARNS AMERICA COULD FACE ANOTHER IF NATION IGNORES RISING ANTISEMITISM RADICAL ISLAMInstead Taylor disclosed the Jewish society received what she described as empty reassurances We receive these one-line messages that there s no place for antisemitism in Australia she commented But they re empty promises There s been no action Taylor reported the failure to act has had broader consequences for Australian society as a whole There s been a number of situations that have led to the complete erosion of social cohesion here in Australia a relaxed immigration initiative letting in too numerous refugees from the wrong places a rise of radical Islamism and a basically slick ruling body that really hasn t assisted or supported the Jewish area and other communities Taylor noted So this attack while it was a targeted attack on the Jewish area is in fact a targeted attack across the whole of Australia TRUMP ENCOURAGES JEWISH AMERICANS TO 'CELEBRATE PROUDLY' DURING HANUKKAH AFTER DEADLY BONDI BEACH SHOOTINGBondi Beach she noted is one of the country s greater part iconic and densely populated populace spaces drawing tourists and locals from around the world People who were sitting on the beach last night were not just there for the Hanukkah festival Taylor stated Yes the people who were shot were participants of the festival but there are hundreds of thousands of people sitting on that beach on a Sunday afternoon It s summer It s exactly what s described as the happy place in the world But it s not anymore she added We re broken Our country is ruined Among the casualties Taylor mentioned was a -year-old girl who later died of her wounds and a Holocaust survivor who had sought refuge in Australia decades earlier Australia is the home to one of the largest Holocaust survivor neighborhood she reported They came here seeking peace and safety a better life And now one of them has fallen victim to terrorism here The violence also struck close to home for Taylor s organization She noted Arsen Ostrovsky the newly appointed head of AIJAC s Sydney office was shot at the festival and remains hospitalized He moved back to Australia with his wife and children just two weeks ago Taylor noted He survived reporting after Oct in Israel and now he s become a victim of that same bloodshed here EYEWITNESS TO AUSTRALIA TERROR ATTACK DESCRIBES 'PANDEMONIUM' DURING DEADLY SHOOTING AT HANUKKAH EVENTAustralian leaders have condemned the attack and pledged to review precaution and counterterrorism measures Police presence has been increased around synagogues and Jewish institutions and Hanukkah events across the country have been canceled Taylor reported the trauma has forced painful conversations in her own home about whether Australia remains a safe place to raise a Jewish family After Oct numerous people made plans to make aliyah to Israel she declared We discussed it as a family We decided our life was better here And now we re asking ourselves how is our life better here She mentioned help from non-Jewish Australians has been overwhelming with people lining up to donate blood and reaching out to offer help Still she warned that the authorities must act decisively I would hope that this is a big wake-up call for our current regime Taylor commented This is an attack on the whole of Australia So they ve lost of their citizens in one day and they re powerless to stop it So if they can t make changes and improvements to not only protect the Jewish district but to protect the broader Australian region from terrorism then they need to do that And I believe they know they need to do it I just don t think they know how