When Bondi gunmen opened fire, Hawke’s Bay resident Rebecca Moses was thousands of kilometres away, but her heart was with her Australian family.
Moses, who is Jewish, has more than 100 relatives living in and around Bondi, but luckily none of them were at Bondi Beach at the time of the attack.
“They are physically safe, but they are devastated and angry,” she told Hawke’s Bay Today.
Fifteen people died and dozens were injured in Sunday’s terror attack at Bondi. Fifty-year-old Sajid Akram, shot dead by police, and his son Naveed Akram allegedly opened fire on a crowd who had gathered to celebrate at a Jewish Hanukkah festival.
Moses first learned about the deadly attack after a family dinner at her Napier home.
“We were washing up when my daughter, who’s 18, found out through her social media,” she said.
“I immediately checked our family WhatsApp group. My cousin said, ‘The family is safe. Everybody’s accounted for.’ That was the first thing he wrote.
“The family chat started to get very sad as we realised how many people had been hurt and killed.”
She said the violence was particularly confronting because of her connection to the area.
“I just feel devastated. I have such happy memories of Bondi Beach. We spent every summer there growing up because my grandparents lived there. And now, to see it become a place of bloodshed and hate is something I still can’t reconcile.”
She said her daughter had recently been living in Bondi while on a gap year, where she worked at an Israeli cafe.
“While she was there, I was constantly worried something like this might happen.”
Moses said rising anti-Semitism in Sydney over the past two years had left many in the Jewish community feeling on edge.
“There have been fires started at synagogues, graffiti on Jewish schools, cars set alight, hate speech.
“I felt that something big was coming and I could see the leadership in Australia wasn’t really dealing with it, so it was quite a frightening time.”
In Hawke’s Bay, she says she feels safe.
“We live in such a happy, safe environment generally ... I do feel safe here.”
The local Jewish community is small, she says, and there’s no synagogue or dedicated centre.
Another Hawke’s Bay Jewish resident, Raquel Kallas, said the community had been celebrating the first night of Hanukkah together in a private home when the attack was unfolding in Bondi.
“The contrast was surreal,” Kallas said.
“We were eating the same traditional foods, singing the same songs, saying the same prayers, all together having a beautiful time. And we were completely unaware of the tragedy that was happening simultaneously in Sydney.”
Kallas said about 30 people from the local Jewish community had gathered for the celebration, and the news only spread once people returned home.
“It was incredibly jarring. Going from that beautiful happiness and togetherness to seeing such absolute horror.”
She says the small community have been connected for support.
“When things like this happen, it can feel isolating, but we have each other.
“I’ve also had my non-Jewish friends and Kiwis checking in ... which I’m really grateful for.”
She said anti-Semitism remained a real and ongoing concern, even in New Zealand.
“People often think anti-Semitism is something from 80 years ago, but it’s very real right now.
“There are people with certain ideologies that really want Jews to be dead, and I don’t think that some people take that seriously.”
She said she had personally experienced uncomfortable situations.
“You don’t know what someone’s reaction is going to be if it comes up that you’re Jewish.
“I went into a bakery that was baking a traditional Jewish bread for Shabbat. And I was really excited that they were baking that bread, because it’s not so common to find that in New Zealand.
“I was so happy, and I told her I’m Jewish. And she said, ‘We’re not a fan of the Jews at the moment.’ And she said that to a Jewish customer who walked into her bakery where she was baking our cultural food.
“That was one of the most explicit expressions of anti-Semitism that I’ve encountered. But there are plenty of other examples.”
Hawke’s Bay Multicultural Association director Rizwaana Latiff said local leaders had met with the Police Ethnic Advisory Board and with Hawke’s Bay Interfaith Council to discuss ways to support the Jewish community.