Absolutely devastating news from Australia that at least 11 people were killed in an antisemitic attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney. One of those who was murdered, Alex Kleytman z”l, was a Holocaust survivor. His wife, also a Holocaust survivor, saw as he was shot. I cannot imagine the grief and pain she and many others are feeling.

My heart is with all the victims and their loved ones, as well as the broader Jewish community in Australia. May the memories of the victims be a blessing.

We deserve to be able to congregate and observe Jewish holidays without fear of violence, in Australia and globally.

Some of the responses to this are awful.

To the people commenting blaming Israel and Zionism. Do I think Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians contribute to antisemitism globally? Yes. Do I think that, in this moment, as the blood hasn’t dried and victims are still fighting for their lives in the hospital, this is what you should be saying? No. Let us grieve this horror for one fucking moment without the commentary. Let us mourn without making it about proving your point.

To the people calling me a kapo and insinuating I should have wanted this because I’ve previously posted about Palestinian rights. Fuck off. A person is a person is a person. I don’t want anyone to die. No one deserves to be murdered. No one. Just because your view of other people’s humanity is selective doesn’t mean the rest of ours is.

@estera-shirin have you seen a GFM of some sort for the people who were killed &/or hurt? I wanted to attach a link & can’t seem to find anything official yet.

Also, I’m so sorry people are being disgusting in the replies about this tragedy. I’m genuinely livid by the amount of people bad faith reading shit & using this situation to be antisemitic &/or racist towards other folks who are literally saying “don’t equate the Israeli government with all Jews” wrt things other gross bigoted anti-zionists have already been saying in the reblogs about how the victims of this *literal hate crime* “deserved to die”, etc. for being Jewish because of all of the actions of the Israeli government wrt to the genocide, which obviously isn’t true & is a gross thing to say, because that government doesn’t reflect the feelings/opinions of all Jews, ESPECIALLY UNRELATED JEWS WHO JUST DIED?

I feel like I’m going crazy wrt the amount of people bad faith reading folks stating that & literally eating each other in the replies in order to justify bigotry Of All Flavors, religious persecution, etc. towards Jewish people & Palestinian people via making weird fucking claims about nuanced replies from anti-zionists @ other anti-zionists who are literally using this situation to be antisemitic, etc., like, the shit I am seeing is driving me absolutely fucking bonkers & I wish the replies & reblogs had been more empathetic from the get-go & that people knew how to read & not assume that people who clearly are not pushing an agenda *are pushing an agenda* by checking & telling other people to be fucking normal &/or posting about the tragedy in the first place, because What The Fuck?

Here is a collection of verified GFMs for the victims and their families you can donate to.

And thank you for your kind words. Honestly I had to mute my notifications and log off for a while because the replies were really upsetting. I did not expect this post to go viral, though I can’t say I’m shocked by the variety of ways that people are being awful about it.

I don’t want to make this about me because obviously there are many people (the victims, their loved ones, the Jewish communities of Sydney and Australia more broadly) who are far more affected, but this has been really horrible. Seeing people being murdered at a Hanukkah celebration is indescribably awful and scary, as is the subsequent outpouring of antisemitism from many.

Simultaneously, I am afraid of how this attack (and the identities of the shooters) will be used to spread racism and Islamophobia. Even though the nationality of one of the shooters has not been released as far as I know (and the other is an Australian citizen), a random Pakistani man in Australia with the same name as one of the shooters has been getting harassed because people think he was the shooter. I am part South Asian, and I’m acutely aware of how this horrific shooting is leading to a rise in racism against my community, including discussion of immigration bans. Similarly, I fear for my Muslim friends and their community, who are also being targeted after this attack.

It feels naive to say given the way the world is right now, but I truly want all people to be okay, to live in peace, and to have justice for violence that has been committed against them. I wish that people could see the grief that I and other Jews are expressing after this attack and respond from a place of compassion and understanding.

I’ve also found this collection of links on charidy for helping the victims of the Bondi Beach attack. (Charidy has 97% rating on charity navigator)

to anyone reading this: be proud of yourself for continuing on— even when you thought you couldn’t hold on any longer. I see you, I love you, and I am routing for you every step of the way.

pencil you sweet summer child

when u look at 2017 and think “oh that’s only like 3 years ago” and it’s actually 12,000 years ago and everything is gone and everyone you know has been reduced to ash and the world is completely different

how your 20s feel when you dont know what ur doing