President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday declared that antisemitism has no place in Australia as he attended a memorial service for the victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack targeting a Jewish event in December.

He attended the event at the Chabad of Bondi alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who did not give a speech.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Albanese only read aloud the names of the victims of the Hanukkah massacre, in which Islamic terrorists killed 15. The newspaper said that the prime minister met privately with the families of the victims afterward.

“What we saw in Bondi, the blood-curdling act of blind hatred, hatred of Jews, hatred of Australian values, simply has no place in this country, or anywhere for that matter,” Herzog said in remarks at the event, according to the president’s office.

As the event was ongoing, a large pro-Palestinian protest was held in central Sydney. Albanese has defended his invitation to Herzog to visit, despite opposition from anti-Israel activists, and has called for calm at the protests.

Albanese came under heavy criticism from Australian Jewry following the attack for not doing enough to fight antisemitism in the country. There has been speculation that the prime minister did not give an address because he was concerned about the reception he might have received in the Chabad center.

Herzog called Albanese “an important world leader,” adding that combating antisemitism “requires broad, serious measures,” and thanked him for “the legislation and initiatives” passed in Australia since the........

© The Times of Israel