In the aftermath of the Bondi Beach shooting during a Hanukkah gathering, Greek Australian community leaders have publicly expressed their solidarity with the Jewish Australian community and have unequivocally condemned the attack.
The incident, which occurred during a religious celebration, has reverberated across Australia’s multicultural communities, prompting renewed calls for unity, vigilance, and collective action against antisemitism and religiously motivated violence.
The Australian Hellenic Council of Victoria issued a media release condemning the attack in the strongest possible terms.
“The Australian Hellenic Council unequivocally condemns the Bondi shootings targeting Jewish Australians who were celebrating Hanukkah,” the statement reads.
“No one should ever fear for their safety while observing their faith or cultural traditions. It is utterly unacceptable and frankly ridiculous that people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds cannot feel safe celebrating who they are in Australia.
“Our country prides itself on multiculturalism, tolerance, and freedom of religion, and violence or intimidation has no place here. We must all do more, governments, institutions, and individuals alike, to confront and combat antisemitism wherever it appears and to stand in solidarity with Jewish Australians and all communities facing hatred.”
Dean Kalimniou, Secretary of the Jewish Hellenic Association of Victoria, echoed these sentiments, situating the tragedy within the long and intertwined history of Greek and Jewish coexistence.
“The Jewish Hellenic Association of Victoria is devastated by the shooting at Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah gathering, an act of violence that has stolen lives and shattered a moment of communal joy,” Mr Kalimniou said.
“This atrocity has sent shockwaves through communities across Australia and has reopened wounds carried by peoples who know too well the consequences of hatred left unchecked.
“JHAV was formed to celebrate the unique history of the Jewish and Hellenic peoples, a history long intertwined through shared geographies, diasporas, learning, commerce, and struggle. From Alexandria to Thessaloniki, from Byzantium to modern Australia, Jews and Greeks have lived side by side, debated together, traded together, mourned together, and rebuilt together. Our encounters have been sustained by a shared commitment to ethical life, intellectual inquiry, and communal responsibility.
“Across centuries, Greek and Jewish traditions have converged in their insistence that law must be tempered by justice, that freedom carries moral obligation, and that human dignity is inviolable. From the prophetic demand for righteousness to the Hellenic pursuit of virtue and civic responsibility, our traditions have repeatedly joined in the work of building societies grounded in tolerance, decency, and respect for difference. In Australia, this shared inheritance has found expression in joint advocacy, cultural dialogue, education, and a common resolve to oppose antisemitism, racism, and all forms of dehumanisation.
“The targeting of Jewish Australians while they gathered to mark Hanukkah contravenes everything that civilised people stand for. It is an assault on lives and on the ethical foundations that bind communities together.
“Hanukkah is a festival of light. It affirms endurance in the face of oppression and the refusal of darkness to have the final word. This attack sought to extinguish that light through hatred and death. We affirm, with clarity and resolve, that the light will endure. It will be carried forward by a community that mourns, remembers, and stands together.
“JHAV stands with the Jewish community in Australia in grief, in solidarity, and in unwavering commitment. Drawing upon the shared moral heritage of our peoples, we recommit ourselves to the work of safeguarding communal life, defending human dignity, and ensuring that such atrocities are never repeated.”
Leaders across the Greek Australian community have expressed profound shock that acts of this nature can be perpetrated against ethnic and religious groups in Australia, a country long regarded as a place of safety, pluralism, and mutual respect.
The Bondi shooting has prompted renewed reflection on the fragility of social cohesion and the responsibility shared by all Australians to defend it.
