Freilich Project Board and Convenor Statement

Written by Freilich Project Board and Convenor. 

We at the Freilich Project at the Australian National University wish to express our strongest solidarity with the Jewish community following the terrorist attack in Bondi. We grieve the lives lost to this senseless violence and mourn the shattering of peace at what should have been a time for community celebration. 

With our focus on the study of bigotry, we are particularly appalled by the targeted nature of this antisemitic violence. We stand together with the victims, their families, their friends and communities. Our hope is that the Australian community responds to these atrocities with support, compassion, and unity, prioritising respectful dialogue over division. 

Encouragement and involvement are vital to stamp out all forms of bigotry, which was the aim of The Freilich Project first presented to the ANU more than twenty-six years ago. Programmes of education, research and discussion guided by understanding of differing viewpoints are essential if there is to be a future without conflict. Hatred and violence must be overcome. 

Importantly, the Project was founded in response to members of the Freilich family, with their Jewish Holocaust background, witnessing a public act of bigotry against a member of the refugee community during the 1990s, a time of anti-refugee hysteria following the Bosnian genocide against the Muslim community. 

In setting up the Project, the Freilich response to this bigotry was, in essence, an act of compassion and support from one cultural group to another. Similarly, the action of those at Bondi who intervened to prevent the further deaths, including courageous Sophia and Boris Gurman who lost their own lives in trying to stop the violence, and the heroic bystander Ahmad al Ahmed, echoes this spirit of unity. In this time of crisis, we urge individuals and organisations to mobilise this tradition of compassionate witnessing and unification under our collective humanity as we grieve together.