Daily London
“I was here with my family, it was a Hanukkah celebration, there were hundreds of people, there were children, there were elderly, families enjoying themselves,” human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky told 9News.
“Children, kids at a festival, playing and then all of a sudden it’s absolute chaos. There’s gunfire, everywhere, people ducking, it was absolute chaos.
“We didn’t know what was happening, where the gunfire was coming from.”
Ostrovsky said he had lived in Israel for the past 13 years and had survived the October 7 attacks there in 2023.
He said he came to Australia only two weeks ago “to work with the Jewish community, to fight antisemitism, to fight this bloodthirsty, ravishing hatred”.
“We’ve lived through worse, we’re gonna get through this, and we’re going to get the bastards who did this,” he said.
Ostrovsky said he saw one of the gunmen during the ordeal as people fell to the ground around him.
He said his only concern was for his wife and children, who he said had managed to escape.
“I saw at least one gunman … firing randomly and in all directions.
“I saw children fall to the floor, I saw elderly, I saw invalids, it was an absolute bloodbath.
“October 7, that’s the last time I saw this. I never thought I’d see this in Australia, not in my lifetime, on Bondi Beach of all places, this iconic place.”
