By Michael Peters Kyriacou, President at the Cyprus Community of NSW
The horrors of December 14 will forever mark Bondi Beach for all the wrong reasons.
The Cyprus Community of NSW was formed to help each other, to support our language, customs, and identity.
Above all else, tolerance has been the hallmark of our Community, as we exchange recipes, ideas, customs, beliefs, traditions, to ultimately help weave the Australia we all enjoy today.
The people of Cyprus are all too familiar with the consequences of hate. For millennia, oppression and fear were the currency of the history of Cyprus and its people.
No group of people should ever live in fear, should ever think twice celebrating that which defines them. Yet this is what occurred on Sunday, 14 December 2025.
It was an attempt to foster fear, to supress an identity, to destroy diversity, to attack the essence of what it is to be Australian.
The people of Cyprus are no strangers to fear.
Many of our members have firsthand experience what’s it like to see their places of worship, scared sites destroyed, their identity, their ceremonies and rituals a target to violence. Some of our members have clear memory of the atrocities fuel by hatred, the loss of life, family, property, identity.
It’s not so surprising that Cyprus, a small island in the eastern Mediterranean, is amongst the first to establish a Special Representative for Religious Freedoms and Protection of Minorities in the Middle East, a significant diplomatic role focusing on minority rights, cultural heritage, and interfaith dialogue, educating everyone on the importance of tolerance, respect and protection of minorities, and highlighting religious freedom as a core value to promote peace, prosperity and progress.
Australia has had an enviable record when it comes to minority rights, the protection and promotion of diversity.
The events at Bondi Beach is a call not to rest on our laurels. Times have changed, hatred is on the rise aided by the insidious online hate chat forums. We must recognise that debate and freedom of speech is no cover for hate.
The Jewish community, like all communities, should not think twice before celebrating their beliefs, their traditions. They should never have to explain or defend their right to meet in public, to be who they are, to express an opinion to preserve their identity.
We have written to our political leaders that there is no discourse when it comes to public safety, protecting the rights of any minority, of any Australian. This is not negotiable.
The Cypriot Community is all too aware that the events on Sunday have put Australia at the cross roads. This is no time to be complacent.
Bondi Beach should be a beacon of tolerance, coming together, and yet it is now synonymous for the time and place when all Australians drew a line in the sand at this iconic beach, to stand by and support the ideals that unite us.
The Cyprus Community is sharing the shock, distress, and great sadness of that dark day on the shores of Bondi Beach.
Antisemitic, all hate-fuelled behaviour should be condemned with no reservation. It has no place in Australia.
On behalf of the Cyprus Community, we offer our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who were killed during this horrific event, and pray for the best recovery possible for those who were injured.
As always, our Community is ready to assist in any way possible to help the healing process, to reassure our Jewish Community they can count on our support as we should all reaffirm our commitment to a safe, peaceful, tolerant and respectful Australia.
