Jewish creatives prompt change to Sydney’s New Year’s Eve Bondi tribute

Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations will include a menorah on the Harbour Bridge after Jewish artistic and cultural figures urged the City of Sydney to revise its planned tribute to the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack.

The city had initially planned to project a white dove accompanied by the word “peace” onto the bridge’s pylons. While intended as a gesture of remembrance, the plan drew criticism for failing to acknowledge that the 15 people killed on Sunday, 14 December, were targeted at a Chanukah event because they were Jewish.

 

In a letter to Clover Moore, more than 30 Jewish Australian artists, writers and musicians welcomed the intention to honour the victims but said the imagery was insufficient and risked erasing the antisemitic nature of the massacre.

“Two terrorists shot dead 15 innocent Australian civilians at a Chanukah event on Bondi Beach for one reason only: because they were Jewish, living publicly Jewish lives,” the letter said. While acknowledging that non-Jews were also killed, the signatories added that “it remains undeniable that the terrorists targeted Jews”.

Spokesmen for the group Ben Adler and Danny Ben-Moshe said the issue went beyond symbolism and reflected a broader cultural problem.

“Over the past two years, expressions of Jewish culture have grown increasingly unfashionable in the Australian cultural landscape. Our exclusion, alienation and demonisation have contributed to the climate of antisemitism within which the Bondi terrorist attack occurred,” they said.

“Australia must recognise that the Australians killed at Bondi were killed because they were Jews living publicly Jewish lives. The NYE Celebration at Sydney Harbour is a leading artistic and cultural event, not just nationally but globally. This is why we as a group of artistic and cultural figures have chosen to speak out and request that the particularism of the victims be acknowledged rather than erased. We believe this dignity would be afforded to the victims of any other terrorist attack that targeted a specific community. Only when we clearly name the problem of anti-Jewish hatred in Australia can we hope to overcome it.”

Among the signatories were Pulitzer Prize–winning author Geraldine Brooks, Academy Award–winning producer Emile Sherman, Archibald Prize winner Yvette Coppersmith, ARIA Award–winning musicians Deborah Conway and Yaron Hallis, Ben Adler, Director of Shir, the Australian Jewish Music Festival, and Richard Tognetti, artistic director and leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

The letter called on the city to project an unequivocally Jewish symbol, such as a menorah or Star of David, noting precedents where official memorials explicitly recognised communities targeted in terror attacks overseas.

Adler explained to JWire: “Our idea was to bring together the leading Jewish creatives in Australia and speak with one clear voice.”

“The issue wasn’t the word ‘peace’. It was the absence of truth. These people were murdered at a Jewish religious celebration, and that mattered. If you remove that context, you risk erasing what actually happened.”

“There was no guarantee this would work. It was very late in the process, just days out from a major global event, and there was no precedent for 30 Jewish creatives writing directly to the Lord Mayor like this.”

“But it was still worth doing. We put our best foot forward, expressed ourselves rationally and respectfully, and exercised our right in a democracy to be heard.”

Adler explains, “I honestly didn’t even know if they would reply. Then at six o’clock last night (Monday 29 December) I got an email from the Lord Mayor’s office, and it was a very pleasant surprise.”

Following the letter, the City of Sydney confirmed it had revised its plans. The Harbour Bridge will be illuminated in white during a minute’s silence, during which a large menorah will be projected onto the pylons to honour those killed.

“We weren’t trying to cancel a message of peace. We were saying that peace has to sit alongside recognition. You can’t honour victims properly if you don’t name who they were and why they were targeted,” explains Adler.

“The menorah isn’t political. It’s about acknowledging Jewish loss in a moment of national reflection.”

For many in the Jewish community, the inclusion of the menorah will be seen as an important acknowledgement that the Bondi Beach massacre was an act of targeted antisemitic violence, recognised at a moment of national and international focus.