Australian journalist Erin Molan reported on social media on the mass shooting and murders near Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, expressing concern for the local Jewish community.
Molan said that, “Multiple gun shots were heard, multiple people shot. My daughter and I were on our balcony when the shooting started. They were very loud, a lot of them. I can’t remember the exact number, but a lot of them.”
She continued: “Two armed gunmen on a bridge pointing to what looked like long rifles, and just shooting over and over and over again. The bridge they were on connects a car park at the back of Bondi Beach and it looks straight onto a huge, popular kids park. Next to it is a field area. “I think I’ve been to three Jewish events there over the past year or so. On the other side of the building, I went to a friend’s son’s bar mitzvah there.”
Molan emphasized the presence of a large Jewish community in the area. “A big Jewish community here. There was a big Jewish event there tonight. We’ve already heard reports of deaths within the Jewish community. Lots of visions of people running for their lives.”
Addressing the broader implications, Molan added: “It’s too early to really talk about impact or any of that, but I think it’s fairly obvious that this will change life as we know it in this country. Such incidents are rare in Australia. Unlike America, unlike other countries in the world we have very strict gun laws, this doesn’t happen often here, and I think that for a lot of people this will really hit home, particularly in this community,” she said.
Molan concluded by warning of what she described as growing hostility toward Jews in Australia. “We’ve seen in Australia the decay and the rot when it comes to hate directed towards the Jewish community and there have been many of us who have begged for government, for law enforcement for community to take this seriously, and have felt very much so that it’s fallen on deaf ears,” Molan ended on an emotional note.