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  • 7 weeks ago
Reporter Jade Macmillan has spoken with a woman who was at the Hanukkah by the sea event on Sunday evening she describes having to shield her baby as the shots rang out.

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00:00I was right there. I was under the gunfire. I was, I don't know, a second away from someone
00:10who got shot and injured. My pram is still there. I saw actually a video, a harrowing
00:17video of people doing CPR on someone, and my pram is there, right there. So I was in
00:23the thick of it. Yeah, that's where I was.
00:25What was going through your mind at that time?
00:28I thought it was fireworks. When I hear this boom, boom, I associate that noise with fireworks.
00:33I live in Australia. I thought we didn't have guns. I had no idea that we had guns. I'm
00:37thinking this is not the USA, and I look up at the sky, but there's no fireworks, and
00:43then everyone's screaming, down, down, everyone go down, and I just took my body and sheltered
00:51my baby and used my body as a shield for my, for my baby. I'm trying obviously not to suffocate
00:57him, but I'm also trying to protect him, and he's in the grass, in the mud like this.
01:02His face is all red. He has sweat dripping down him, and he is screaming hysterically,
01:09and I'm just there trying to, trying to protect my baby. Yeah.
01:15How long was it before the coast was clear, before you could move away?
01:18Oh, we didn't even know when the coast was clear. I think it was around 15 minutes of
01:22gunfire. I don't know the actual time, but I think around that. It felt definitely very
01:27long. The whole time I was praying, I'm a believer in God, I was saying Psalms, but
01:31also, I kept thinking, where the hell is the police? Like, what the hell is going on?
01:36This is Bondi Beach. I was in disbelief and shock, and then I think after 15 minutes, it
01:41was quiet, and then people came and ran to us and said, is anyone here injured? And I didn't
01:47know who to trust, or, you know, and then I just got up with my baby, and I just ran.
01:52Um, I ran for safety to North Bondi, like, to the beach, even though we know that there
01:58were bombs in the area, but, um, yeah, I, I, I had, I didn't have my phone, I didn't
02:04have my keys, my pram, my wallet, I had, I had nothing. So, um, it was chaotic beyond,
02:09yeah. Do you know anyone who was injured or killed in the shooting?
02:13Yeah, I do. I do. I know people who were murdered. They were a part of my community, my friend's
02:19brother-in-law, my other friend's dad, my father-in-law's best friend's work colleague.
02:25I know all of these people. They're a part of my community. They're people who I see every
02:29day. They're a part of my life. And, um, one of the victims, I, I don't want to say to
02:35respect to the family, but I was with two of his children. Um, one of his little, his little
02:40boy was holding his hot dog still. He was holding his hot dog from the carnival, no idea what
02:46the hell was going on. And he came with me when we went to safety and his, and another,
02:51and the victims also little baby was with us too. We had no idea that their dad was, was
02:58not alive. Yeah. So I know them and we are heartbroken. And this was an attack against the
03:03Jewish community. This wasn't an attack against Aussies. Yes, we're Australian. Yes, we love
03:09our country, but this was attack against Jewish people. This was purely incited by Jew hatred,
03:15by antisemitism. And I think it's important for people to start to wake up and realize
03:20that it starts with words, but it never ends with words. And I was thinking about it. The
03:24writing was literally on the walls. When people say kill Zio baby killers and all that kind
03:30of stuff, you know, a Zionist, a Jew, it's all one and the same with a Jewish people. And
03:36Israel is our homeland. And that doesn't mean that we're not here to share our homeland, but
03:41you know, people say, Oh, I'm not anti-Semitic. I'm just an anti-Zionist mate. It's one and
03:46the same. And 95% of the time it is. And we see it now, unfortunately. So I hope that
03:52Aussies, Aussies wake up and that Aussies tell their Jewish friends, their colleagues, their
03:57acquaintances, or if you see a Jew on the street, tell them that you support them, tell them
04:02that you love them, tell them that you want them in this country. Cause I'm telling you, and
04:06I know this because I'm thinking this, I don't know if I'm safe here in Australia. I don't
04:10know if I want my little baby Meir to be raised in a country that is filled with hatred, but
04:15someone looks at you and they see your star of David necklace and they spit in your face
04:19for being a Jew. So tell people that you love them and support them. Cause we might, you know,
04:25we, we, we want to be here. We don't want to have to run away and flee.
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