President Donald Trump said American Jews celebrating Hanukkah should not be worried about their safety following the Bondi Beach attack.
“Celebrate proudly – be proud of who you are,” Trump said to Fox News on Sunday.
The president’s comments come after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the mass shooting at a “Hanukkah by the Sea” celebration at Bondi Beach as a “targeted attack on Jewish Australians.”
“An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian and every Australian tonight will be, like me, devastated on this attack on our way of life,” said Albanese at a press conference. “There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation. Let me be clear. We will eradicate it.”
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Police said at least 11 people were killed and dozens more were injured.
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At a government meeting in Dimona, Israel, on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had warned Albanese in an August letter that the Australian government’s policies were encouraging antisemitism.
Netanyahu accused Albanese of failing to act as antisemitism spread and said inaction had helped foster a climate of rising hostility toward Jews.
“We saw an action of a brave man – turns out a Muslim brave man, and I salute him – that stopped one of these terrorists from killing innocent Jews. But it requires the action of your government, which you are not taking,” Netanyahu said at the meeting. “And you have to, because history will not forgive hesitation and weakness. It will honor action and strength.”
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Yael Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, said the attack was a wakeup call for Jews.
“Terror doesn’t stop in America or in Europe or in Australia. It’s not only targeting the Jews, it’s also targeting the Christians,” Eckstein said on “Fox & Friends Weekend.” “The answer to this darkness is light.”
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