Around 60 people gathered at a vigil overlooking Sydney Harbour on the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack. A giant candle sand sculpture was lit, and prayers were sung to remember those who were killed and taken hostage.
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00:00Earlier this morning there was a sunrise ceremony just on the steps of Bondi Beach and the mood
00:07there was a really sombre mood.
00:08There were a number of speakers and the people who were gathered there also heard the names
00:12of the 101 hostages who are still held in Gaza being read out.
00:17Now part of these vigils is of course to honour the 1,200 people who were killed in the Hamas
00:22terrorist attacks on Israel and the 250 who were initially taken hostage.
00:27One of the speakers at Bondi this morning was the Federal Senator Dave Sharma and he
00:30said that October 7 last year will forever live in infamy.
00:34He also spoke of one of the first Israeli officials who arrived on the scene last year.
00:39It was a combat veteran he said and Dave Sharma quoted that person as saying it's not a war
00:44or a battlefield, it's a massacre.
00:46There was also a ceremony last night at a site overlooking Sydney Harbour where a giant
00:50sculpture of a candle was lit and there was similar quiet reflection and prayer going
00:54on there.
00:55Now we've heard from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry today.
00:59They're saying that October 7 is a day that the Jewish community will never forget.
01:03Alex Rivchin who is from that organisation says that the impact is felt on two levels.
01:09Obviously there's the immediate impact of seeing that terrible loss of life and perhaps
01:13being directly affected by that.
01:15But he also spoke of the second way people in the Jewish community are affected is by
01:19a rise in incidents of anti-Semitism in Australia.
01:23He's particularly concerned about that but speaking about the anniversary or the marking
01:28of this day, Mr Rivchin said Jewish people on that day last year saw things that they
01:33never thought they would see again.
01:36According to Jewish tradition, a year after an event of trauma and loss, we are compelled
01:42to cease our mourning.
01:44But it is impossible not to mourn when 101 Israelis remain in that hell and when our
01:50community here locally reels from unprecedented scales of anti-Semitism.
01:56Now on those incidents of anti-Semitism, Alex Rivchin is saying that his organisation has
02:00recorded more than 1,800 reported incidents in the last year and he says that's an increase
02:06of more than 300% on the year before.
02:09What have leaders had to say about the other events planned for today, Jeremy?
02:13Well of course there are also pro-Palestinian events going on following very sizeable marches
02:18not only in Sydney but Melbourne yesterday.
02:21Now pro-Palestinian groups are planning a candlelight vigil tonight possibly around
02:25the Sydney Town Hall area and also another area around Lakemba.
02:29Alex Rivchin says that he's expecting to see what he says is going to be more hate this
02:34evening.
02:35He says holding those type of events by that group on this day is horribly inappropriate,
02:40insensitive and he claims that it's intended to provoke and inflame.
02:44But Mr Rivchin also says he's not surprised.
02:47This is of course a debate and a controversy that has been going on for weeks.
02:51So he was asked a lot of questions at his press conference earlier today about the importance
02:56of free speech or the right to assemble and he said of course we don't oppose those things
03:00but we simply ask that today be left alone as a day of mourning but he also recognises
03:05that that was quite an idle request to have.