The attack on Bondi Beach shattered the illusion that such horror
only happens somewhere else. As bullets tore through a peaceful
Chanukkah gathering, strangers shielded each other,
a lone bystander wrestled a gun from one shooter, and officers ran toward the danger they could barely see.
Sirens, screams and the thud of helicopters replaced the usual Sunday buzz of bars and surf.
In the hours that followed, Australia’s leaders spoke of
“evil anti-Semitism”, vowing there would be no place for terror or revenge.
Streets in Sydney’s southwest filled with shocked locals as police locked
down the home of an alleged gunman, while hospitals fought to keep the wounded alive.
A nation that prides itself on easygoing calm now faces a darker question:
how to hold onto that spirit when its very openness has been so brutally attacked.
