Hollywood notables, including Ashton Kutcher, Mandy Moore, Rebel Wilson and others, have taken to social media to share their reactions to the deadly massacre on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.
On Dec. 14, two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration taking place on the famous beach, killing at least 16 people, including a 12-year-old child, and injuring 38 others, including two police officers, the Associated Press reported. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the attack an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation. One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second was arrested and in critical condition, authorities said.
Following the attack, Kutcher took to X, writing, “Antisemitic rhetoric is not abstract—it carries a cost, and my brothers and sisters continue to pay it. May this devastation somehow spark a hidden miracle, one our eyes do not yet have the merit to see.”
Wilson also wrote on her Instagram Story, “Just waking up to the news about what’s happened on Bondi Beach. An absolute tragedy that is the most un-Australian thing to have happen. We shouldn’t have gun violence in Australia, we shouldn’t have antisemitism – it’s not us! Thinking of everyone affected by this devastating violence.”
Moore echoed the heartbreak, sharing on her Instagram Story, “On the first night of Hanukkah and in a country with very strict gun control laws. Absolutely devastating. My heart is with all my Jewish friends around the world.”
Country singer Maren Morris shared the news on her social media, writing, “Horrible. My heart goes out [to] Australia right now.”
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy was asked about the massacre during an appearance on Fox News, to which he responded, “I mean, it’s sadness, it’s tragic. And there’s a lot of tragic news. I actually tweeted out, I mean, between this, between Brown University, the Syria attacks, you don’t even want to turn on the TV. I wish I could say I’m shocked or surprised, but attacks like these seem borderline inevitable with what’s going on in the world. It’s tragic and it’s sad, but not surprising. And that in itself is probably, you know, the saddest part of it that I’m not surprised.”
He later added to Peter Doocy, “I see, you know, people are doing, being anti-Semitic just openly, and there doesn’t seem to be a whole heck of a lot of pushback. There seems to be a lot of excuses for it. If Jews, anti-Semitic attacks, whatever, Jews deserved it. If Jews retaliate, it’s the Jews’ fault. No matter what it is, it’s the Jews’ fault. So that is the world we live in right now, and people want to make excuses or say, you know, minimize it.
Comedian, actor and writer Alex Edelman took to his X account to share a famous photo taken by Rachel Posner in 1932 of a brass menorah, the candlestick used to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, sitting in front of her window, with the Nazi’s swastika flag flying prominently in the background.
Edelman wrote in the post, “I think of this photo a lot. The owner, Rachel Posner, donated it to Yad Vashem, and on the back wrote in German: “Chanukah 5692 (1932). ‘Death to Judah,’ so the flag says. ‘Judah will live forever,’ so the light answers.” Some lights cannot be extinguished. Chag Sameach.”
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