"The chant sounded to many like Gas the Jews. But Australian authorities reviewed footage, and at a surreal press conference, they announced that while some members of the crowd were shouting "Fuck the Jews," the crowd's unison chant was "Where's the Jews?" Australia has strict rules about hate speech, but merely inquiring about where to find Jews is not a crime, so the police closed the case."
"In Sydney, the answer to Where's the Jews? is Bondi, the area known simultaneously as a center of bikini culture and sun worship, and as a hub of Australian Orthodox Jewry. Yesterday two men, a father and son, emerged from their hatchback with rifles and fired at a crowd of Jews celebrating Hanukkah there. Some 15 are dead, and dozens have been hospitalized. The death toll could have been even worse."
"The Australian government's incompetence in countering threats against Jews is obvious. In the coming days, the recriminations should focus not on the failure to prevent this single horrendous crime but on the feeble reaction to a whole wave of attempts to kill Jews and light their institutions on fire during the past year. Threats, assaults, vandalism, and intimidation against Jews tripled in the year after October 7, 2023."
On October 9, 2023, protesters in front of the Sydney Opera House chanted about Jews; authorities concluded the crowd's unison chant was "Where's the Jews?" and closed the case because asking where Jews are is not a crime. Bondi, home to a large Orthodox Jewish community, became the site of a Hanukkah massacre when a father and son opened fire, killing about 15 and injuring dozens. The attackers carried an Islamic State banner, and the son had prior investigations. Threats, assaults, vandalism, and intimidation against Jews tripled after October 7, 2023.
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