Bondi Chanukah massacre

[lucymonster]

Yesterday evening, two gunmen opened fire on a large crowd attending Chanukah by the Sea in Sydney. So far sixteen people are dead, with reports saying there were so many more injured that police had to drive ambulances back to hospital so the paramedics could stay behind to keep treating more victims.

I just don’t have words. I don’t know what to say. Violence like this is almost unheard of in Australia; we have no community script, just raw horror and grief. My heart is with the thousands of people - families and ordinary civilians - who went to the beach for an evening of joy and worship and are now in mourning. I’m praying as well for Ahmed al Ahmed, a middle-aged bystander (a fruitseller, the rumours are saying, and not in any way combat trained) who took it on himself to save potentially countless lives by tackling and disarming one of the gunmen, and who’s now in hospital recovering from the gunshot wounds he sustained while doing so.

Please consider donating to an Australian Jewish charity today. US and UK friends, it’s worth noting that your currency just about doubles on exchange, so a small donation can make a much bigger difference over here.

Jewish Community Appeal

Jewish Council of Australia

Update with more specific GoFundMe links:

In loving memory of Matilda - to support the family of the 10 year old girl who lost her life yesterday.

Support the hero who disarmed a Bondi attacker - Ahmed al Ahmed will be out of work for a long time with his injuries and has a young family to support. His parents are also trying to get his brothers here from overseas to help take care of him while he’s incapacitated.

 

Comments

[rhoda_rants]

Thank you for posting the links. I have been thinking about this today, and how . . . commonplace a tragedy like this has become for the US, where it took me a minute to realize, "Wait, hold on, that's not supposed to happen over there, they have real gun laws." Not that it's "supposed" to happen anywhere, but you know what I mean.

[lucymonster]

Our last such mass casualty event was in 1996, and resulted in a mass weapons surrender program. If there’s even the tiniest sliver of good in this tragedy, it’s that it’s prompting the government to take a closer look at the state of our gun laws - apparently they’re working far more sloppily in practice than they’re supposed to. One of the shooters, the father, had a valid license to own the firearms used in the attack.

But…yeah. What you’re saying is how I feel, and it’s probably an awful way to feel, because this shouldn’t be happening anywhere in the WORLD. But my country existed in a little bubble of safety, and last night that bubble popped.

[sonofgodzilla]

Oh my goodness, this is just... awful. I don't have words for this.

[dr_zook]

I'm so very sorry and sad about this; what a nightmare. Wishing you and your communities strength and love.

[rhoda_rants]

Honestly, the fact that they're going, "Wait, we need to enforce this better, let's revisit our gun laws," is still . . . SO much further in the direction of solving the problem than where we are.

Have donated now. Permission to share this post with all the links? I think we have a lot of mutuals in common anyway, but just in case.

[osprey_archer]

This is just so awful. What a dreadful world we live in sometimes.

[lucymonster]

Thank you so much for donating, and I’d be so grateful if you did share the post/links! ❤️❤️❤️

[rhoda_rants]

No problem. <3 I actually got an alert on my card, because, I don't live in Australia, lol. I'm glad my credit union is on top of it!

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[walgesang]

Endless prayers. ♥

[cosmicjellyfish]

It’s utterly horrific. Sending so much love. ♥