The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation denounces Sunday’s attack on a Jewish religious festival in Bondi Beach, Australia.

The attack by two gunmen claimed the lives of 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl. It follows six other mass shootings in Australia since 1996.

The Foundation’s Executive Director, Neeshan Balton, said, “We extend our condolences to the Australian people following the horrific attack. We remain increasingly concerned about what the United Nations describes as an “alarming” global uptick of harassment, intimidation, violence, and incitement based on religious beliefs. Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and all other forms religious hate must be challenged.”

Balton drew historic parallels between the actions of Ahmed Al Ahmed, a Syrian Muslim who tackled one of the gunmen – ultimately saving the lives of many of the Jewish festival goers – and that of Margareta Harmse – an Afrikaner woman who reported Chris Hani’s assassination in 1993 in South Africa leading to his killer’s arrest.

“Both examples demonstrate how individual actions to save life across religion and race can be beacons of hope. Al Ahmed’s act itself counters Islamophobic rhetoric, just as Harmse’s example helped prevent further descent into racial conflict in South Africa,” he said.

While the motive for the attack is yet unknown, it takes place within the context of the Gaza genocide and Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine for the last seven decades.

“We must be clear that anti-Zionism differs fundamentally from anti-Semitism and the conflation of the two – often by proponents of Israel themselves – should be guarded against. Conflating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism simply paves the way for the legitimate challenging of a political concept to be dangerously blurred with clear cut religious hate. We must challenge Zionism, as we challenged apartheid, and just as we must challenge anti-Semitism,” Balton explained.

He added, “Those killed in Gaza now number over 70 000. The recent killing of 15 more people in a different part of the world altogether is possibly indicative of the global repercussions of the genocide.

The words of Bernie Sanders is worth repeating here. On X he said in response to this massacre  “Religion must not divide our common humanity. We must stand together and end antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all hate – no exceptions.”

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Issued by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation  

For media inquiries, please contact:

Anele Gcwabe

Communications Manager

Ahmed Kathrada Foundation

083-278-8832

anele@kathradafoundation.org