‘When I come to Bondi, I think of dying’: 8yo’s heartbreaking words in wake of Bondi attack revealed in anti-Semitism royal commission

An eight-year-old girl cried while telling her mother she thinks of “dying” when visiting Bondi in the wake of the alleged terror attack that killed 15 people, an inquiry into anti-Semitism has been told. A witness, known only as Dina, told the Royal Commission on anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion that her eight-year-old daughter had started crying on a recent visit to Bondi saying: “Now when I come to Bondi, I think of dying”. The mother-of-three said Bondi was “associated with a massacre” and “the death of Jews” in the wake of the attack, and that it was hard to feel safe as an Australian Jew. Speaking of the attack, Dina said “they came to kill us but we just weren’t there”, adding “I just hope we can live like everyone else”. She considered hiring paid security guards for her daughter’s upcoming Bat Mitzvah, recalling how she had wished her daughter “wasn’t in her school uniform” during a trip to the emergency room on another occasion. After witnessing the October 9 protests at the Sydney Opera House, and watching “angry protesters”, Israeli flags being burned and hearing chants of “Where are the Jews”, Dina discussed with her husband removing the mezuzah — a scroll with verses from the Torah — from their door that identified the house as Jewish. “What do you think they’re gonna do when they find us?” she had asked her husband. ‘Pain that won’t go away’: Touching tribute to Matilda Jewish woman Natalie Levy says the pain of the Bondi attack “won’t go away”, telling the hearing that the Jewish community “can’t afford to lose any more people” after 15 innocent people were killed in an alleged terror attack at Bondi Beach on December 14. She wore a bee pin to the second day of the hearing before commissioner Virginia Bell in Sydney on Tuesday, a touching tribute to Matilda, who is affectionately referred to as “bee” by her loved ones. “This pin represents everything that we lost, all the people that we lost in our community due to two years of unchecked and vile anti-Semitism,” Ms Levy told the hearing. “We can’t afford to ever be in this situation, and we can’t afford to lose any more people. “It was a big, big knock to the Australian community and we’re all broken. It’s a pain that won’t go away.” Ms Levy said she had been called a “dirty Jewish pig”, “baby killer”, “baby eater” and “genocidal” online, telling the hearing it was “heartbreaking”. “I truly grew up believing that this kind of rhetoric was a thing of the past, and to see if resurface to aggressively is a real shock and a real disappointment,” she said. Co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin says the Jewish community has “never sought special treatment” and seeks “equality” as the first public hearings of the royal commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion get underway. Photos captured Matilda playing with bubbles minutes before she was tragically killed in the attack, with her parents last year urging the country to “remember her name”. “We came here from Ukraine … and I named her Matilda because she was our firstborn in Australia. And I thought that Matilda was the most Australian name that could ever exist,” her father, Michael, told crowds at Bondi Pavilion in December. “So just remember – remember her name.” Kids joke about going as Bondi shooters or Hitler for muck up day A witness who can only be known as AAP said children at their child’s school had joked about dressing up as Hitler or the Bondi shooters for Year 12 muck up day. They added their children “came home and told me they don’t want to be Jewish” shortly after October 7, 2023, telling the hearing children say “we hate Jews” around the schoolyard. Ms Levy earlier spoke of her daughter seeing “swastikas” etched around her school and other children saying “heil Hitler and putting up their arm in a salute”. “She sees things that no 15-year-old should see,” Ms Levy said. “She’s a very proud Jewish young lady but she’s scared, she finds it very daunting.” The two-week hearing at Clarence Street in Sydney will focus on defining anti-Semitism, its prevalence in Australia and how to assess its prevalence in society and institutions, with 12 witnesses called on Monday including The Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin, and the daughter of slain Bondi hero Reuven Morrison. The royal commission was announced after the alleged terror attack at Bondi Beach on December 14, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese making the call on January 8 after weeks of pressure. More to come