Hanukkah Celebrations in Israel Clouded by an Attack Far Away

0:00Today on State of the World, Hanukkah celebrations in Israel, clouded by an attack far away. You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. It's Monday, December 15th. I'm Greg Dixon. A mass shooting in Australia that killed at least 15 people has spread shock and horror around the world. The target was a celebration marking the start of Hanukkah on Sydney's Bondi Beach. A young girl and a Holocaust survivor were among the victims. Jews around the world are shaken by the violence. That is of course true in Israel, where the tragedy is casting a heavy shadow.

0:44NPR's Jerome Sokolowski takes us to Tel Aviv, where people of all ages were looking forward to the holiday, especially this year.

0:56Rabbi Shul Reisus lights the first candle on the giant Hanukkah menorah. It was at a ceremony like this one that two gunmen opened fire over the weekend in Australia. The Chabad movement organizes them every year in cities around Israel and the world. Reizes says the gunman in Sydney won't change that, even though a Chabad rabbi was among the dead. What they want to do is to bring more darkness to the world. And we are sure that our mission now, especially this night, is to bring more lights to the world.

1:34As the rabbi sings with the children, they play with toys that glow and sparkle. Alice Eldar is happy to be out celebrating again with her toddlers. It is back in Tel Aviv with lots of activities around the city for the first time since COVID and the wars that followed the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. Now they can go out and buy the traditional jelly-filled donuts called sufganiyot. We're eating sufganiyot, celebrating, come to see the night and everything. It feels like we can actually celebrate again. But the celebrations this year are overshadowed by what happened on a beach thousands of miles away.

2:22I just walked down to the beach here in Tel Aviv, where several volleyball games are going on under the floodlights. People are out for a stroll, there's some joggers on the boardwalk, and there's a vigil going on for the victims of the shooting in Australia.

2:44People sing a song of peace as they huddle around memorial candles laid out forming a Star of David on the boardwalk. I'm here because I'm an Australian Jew living in Israel, and I believe that it was important that I show up this evening. Ben Freeman says the rise in threats and violence back home became too much. When October the 7th happened, things shifted massively in Australia and I hung around for another year and then I decided to pick up and come to a country where I wouldn't have to explain myself and I could be free. He agrees with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's charge that Australian leaders didn't take anti-Semitism seriously.

3:24It was coming. It's been coming for a long time. I think the response to October 7th was really disappointing from the Australian government. I think that we were far, far, far too left field. And I think that, to be really, really honest, the blood is on their hands. Australian Jews here say they're heartbroken. Still, they miss their country, as you can hear when they conclude the vigil with their national anthem. Australian solar passengers Jerome Sokolowski, NPR News, Tel Aviv A golden soil and wealth for taught Our home is good by sea That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.