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Who was Rabbi Eli Schlanger? First victim of Bondi Beach shooting identified
During Hanukkah festivities at Bondi Beach on Sunday, a mass shooting left 11 dead and 29 injured.
At least 11 people were killed, and 29 others were injured during a mass shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach, where hundreds gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah, on Sunday. The attack, which targeted the Jewish community, has been declared a terrorist incident. Of those killed, the first victim has been identified as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, per The Jerusalem Post.
Who was Rabbi Eli Schlanger?
The Chabad emissary was present at Bondi Beach to attend a Hanukkah event, marking the first night of the Jewish festival of lights. Schlanger was killed when two terrorists shot into a crowd of over 2,000. According to anash.org, he was a longtime shliach of the Rebbe in Bondi Beach, Sydney.
Schlanger, who served as a shliach for 18 years, was 40 years old and is survived by his wife Chayale (née Ulman) and their children, including a two-month-old baby. Weeks before the deadly mass shooting, he hosted a memorial in memory of shluchim who were murdered, including Rabbi Gavriel and Rivki Holtzberg, HYD, in Mumbai, and Rabbi Zvi Kogan, HYD, in the United Arab Emirates, at Chabad House Bondi Beach.
His social media accounts list his education as Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch and Yeshiva Brunoy, France, per The Jerusalem Post. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in his official statement shared on X that the National Security Committee had been “convened as a matter of urgency.”
Albanese called the mass shooting at the Hanukkah by the Sea event a “devastating terrorist incident.” “This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith,” he went on, adding that it was an “act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism.”
The PM further vowed to “eradicate” the hate that fuelled the deadly attack. “An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian, and every Australian tonight will be like me, devastated by this attack on our way of life,” he added.
