UK events remember Bondi victims as police step up security in Jewish communities

The victims of a mass shooting during an event marking Hanukkah at Australia’s Bondi Beach have been remembered at events around the UK.

Police forces in England and Scotland have said they are increasing their visibility among Jewish communities, as events celebrating the religious holiday get under way.

Fifteen people, including a child, were killed during the Bondi shooting, officials have said, in an attack targeting members of the Jewish community.

A crowd of around 100 people gathered outside the Australian High Commission in central London for a vigil on Sunday evening.

People could be seen waving British and Israeli flags, while some held signs reading: “Stop the Hate”.

Speaking at the vigil, the rabbi for Marleybone, Yisroel Lew, lit a menorah and said: “After hearing what happened this morning, the first thought was – how can we bring more light?

“Don’t be afraid and celebrate Hanukkah.”

Just down the road in Trafalgar Square, a large menorah was lit up to mark the first day of the festival.

Hundreds of people also attended Hanukkah events in north-west London on Sunday with music and dancing – and an increased police presence.

Present at one of them was Chanie Simon, who went to school with Rabbi Eli Schlanger, among those killed in the Sydney shooting. He described the 41-year-old victim as a “father in the prime of his life”.

“We are reeling in pain,” she told the BBC. “But we are going around and carrying on to make the world a bigger and better place, bringing acts of goodness, acts of light, because that’s what the world needs.

“It’s awful but we aren’t going to let terror stop us.”

The BBC also spoke to Joseph Sassoon who said: “I’m saddened that Jewish people have to be afraid in this day and age”. He added: “Years after the Holocaust and Jews are still being murdered.”

London-born Rabbi Eli, a father of five, was described as a “caring, vivacious, energetic, outgoing guy who loved people” by his cousin, Rabbi Zalman Lewis.

Speaking to the BBC earlier in the day, he said people should “spread light” by doing charitable acts in Rabbi Schlanger’s name: “I know how he would have been reacting and it was something he said recently.

“Every human being on earth has a positive way to contribute to making the world a better place, and we just have to keep spreading light.

“The world is a positive place and we need to show that and I know Eli would be saying that.”

Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer, have lit a menorah in the window of Number 10.

Lady Starmer is Jewish, and Sir Keir has previously said they often mark the beginning of Shabbat on Friday nights.

In a post on social media, the prime minister said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with those murdered in the terrorist attack on Bondi Beach today, their loved ones and the whole Jewish community.

“Light will always win over darkness.”

Earlier, the UK’s Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) called on the police and government to protect events celebrating Hanukkah – which begins on Sunday evening and lasts for eight days – saying: “We must not let hatred extinguish the festival of light.”

In a statement, the JLC said it is “devastated and angered that in Sydney, Jews appear to have been targeted once again for being Jewish”.

“We know that such hatred also exists in this country, as we are still reeling from the attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur.”

Two people were killed in that attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar.

Starmer described the Bondi attack as “sickening” and said the government was working with Community Security Trust (CST), a Jewish security organisation, on the policing of Hanukkah events in the UK.

Police Scotland said it was carrying out additional patrols around synagogues and other Jewish venues and was “actively communicating with faith leaders”.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the Metropolitan Police would increase its visibility in Jewish communities ahead of Hanukkah events.

The police force said: “At a time when London’s Jewish communities are coming together to begin the celebration of Hanukkah, we know this attack will be the cause of not just terrible upset but also significant heightened concern about safety.”

It added that “there is no information to suggest any link between the attack in Sydney and the threat level in London”.

King Charles said he was “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack” at the Bondi Hanukah celebrations, and that his and Queen Camilla’s “hearts go out to everyone who has been affected so dreadfully”.

He added that the light of the Jewish festival “will always triumph over the darkness of such evil”.

The Prince and Princess of Wales also issued a statement, saying their “thoughts are with every Australian today”, and they “stand with the Jewish community in grief”.

Meanwhile, the UK’s chief rabbi said the Jewish community will “rebuild with tenacity”.

“As we kindle our first Chanukah lights this evening, we hold the victims of the unspeakable atrocity in Sydney in our hearts and in our prayers,” Sir Ephraim Mirvis said in a statement on X.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said he would be attending a Hanukkah event which “should be a celebration but instead our community is once again mourning”.

“I will be thinking of everyone in Australia and those around the world in the Jewish community who know this fear and loss. We stand with you.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it had offered its support to its Australian partners and was in touch with the government to discuss the UK response.

“The scourges of terrorism and antisemitism are shared, international challenges and need concerted and determined action to defeat them,” it added.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has advised any British people caught up in the shooting to contact the Sydney consulate for support.