Rabbi Mendy Litzman, head of Hatzolah Sydney, provided a firsthand account of the Bondi Beach shooting, in an interview with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News.
Describing the initial moments, Rabbi Litzman said: "We knew nothing about anything. The event was going normal and then suddenly our radio crackled. One of our responders, he started screaming on the radio 'I've been shot. Send me backup now. I need backup now.' And he kept on screaming. We were initially confused - there aren't supposed to be guns in Sydney. Within a second it clicked, though, so we started sending resources there.
Rabbi Litzman, who has been a first responder for 27 years, described the scene as unprecedented: "It was very chaotic. I never imagined ever coming to such a scene. Everyone was screaming, 'Mendy, help me, help me, help me.' I was just trying to do the most good for the greatest number of patients."
He credited training in Israel, Australia, and New York for preparing his team: "We were trained in Israel several times, and that really helped us. The muscle memory just kicks in and you just go into action. You don't think, you just do and you try to save as many people as you could."
He knew many of the victims personally, adding to the emotional toll: "We knew a lot of people there. There were many Jews injured, and two police officers. I knew many of them personally, including a Rabbi who went into cardiac arrest."
Still processing the trauma, Rabbi Litzman admitted: "I'm still running on fumes. I still haven't slept since incident. It's difficult, but the outpouring of the support from all over the world has been amazing. It's an amazing feeling that we're one family. The Jewish nation is one family."
The scene evoked memories of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel: "Of course you think about October 7th on arrival. How could you not? At the same time, you also think about the heroes of October 7th who ran to help people during the massacre."
"What gives us strength is that we saved many lives. We mourn over the losses, but we don't give up. Terrorism doesn't win. We'll always be there. And we just continue saving lives because that's how we dispel a lot of darkness. Like Hanukkah, a little bit of light dispels all the darkness. And as Jews, we know that we always continue. We don't give in to the terrorism. We will never stop being proud Jews, and we'll always help everyone regardless of the religion, race or gender."