[Oe List ...] How do we respond to the Bondi massacre without engaging in cover up or accusations?

Fri Dec 19 05:25:14 PST 2025

To respond to the Bondi massacre responsibly needs lucidity. We should not inadvertently make things worse. We need to know what actually happened and who did what. This is not as simple and straightforward as it may seem. It appears what happened was racial hatred vented by people traumatized by Israel’s violent attacks in Gaza. Anger that could drive Arabs and Muslims to do terrible things tthey would not normally do.Here is question to consider:  Was there a “hidden hand”? Was the scene set to make Australians see this as a case of angry Muslims attacking Jews? Could this be a false flag operation?We should ask: “Who benefits from this incident”? That may reveal clues. After the killing, Netanyahu said he had warned Australians about their support for the Palestinians. To me, it seemed like a move to tweak public opinion against the Palestinians. What are other forces at work? Who else is trying to manipulate public opinion and drive nations to war? I’m reminded of Colin Powell’s declaration that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. That drove the US to destroy a nation and the lives of its own soldiers. So, was this really racism? Hatred for those who don’t look or behave like us? Or was this about something more mercenary? Let’s not be naïve. Let’s not get taken for a ride. There are smart and clever people working behind the scenes. Millions to be made in manufacturing and selling weapons and explosives. All they need to do is to play with the fears and imagination of the people.

    On Friday, 19 December 2025 at 04:42:40 pm MYT, Richard and Maria Maguire via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:  

I imagine that you as well as the rest of the world have heard about the horrible killings in Bondi.

This even brings out once again how terrible it must be for people who have to be afraid of being attacked at any time by violent people just because of who they are, here especially First Nations, people from the Mideast, Jews and Africans.  Even though the number of people who would do such things is relatively small, the threat is always there.  We hope this might move the politicians to do a lot more about guns, the laws here were very good, but had many loopholes and have been whittled back over the years through political horse trading.  

We have been struggling with how to talk about Bondi without being seen as defending the indefensible, yet bringing in the larger context.   It seems to us that there needs to be a lot more conversation about why antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks have ballooned in the past few years, since Israel's murderous genocidal attacks on Palestinians.  See for instance https://theconversation.com/bondi-attack-came-after-huge-increase-in-online-antisemitism-research-272045 and  https://www.visionofhumanity.org/gaza-conflict-leads-to-rise-in-antisemitism-and-islamophobia/This dimension of current reality has not been reported much in the media and governments have avoided doing much to deal with the causes.  We are also concerned that  if the government puts into law the Antisemitism statement proposed by their "envoy" it could make things worse on all sides https://www.humanrights.unsw.edu.au/research/commentary/antisemitism-plan-australia-contentious-definition.

We were grateful to find these two statement in our emails yesterday from two Australian organisations, "The Movement" https://themovement4point0.au/news/condemn-Bondi-beach-massacre and from The Australian Jewish Council https://www.jewishcouncil.com.au/  which do a great job of holding the tension.  We notice how Gaza news has been wiped off the news feeds this week, even though twice as many innocent Palestinians have been killed per day over the last two years as were the 15 innocent people killed in Bondi.  

We, and I believe ICAA, are not interested in making public statements, but it would be great if we could converse about how to respond to immediate disasters like this and bring out the underlying contradictions behind them.

One "positive" arising from the Gaza war and behavior of governments is that the interest in Human Rights has grown considerably among the populations.  I went to a lecture on international Human Rights and government responsibility featuring Chris Sidoti from the UN Commission on Human Rights, an international Law professor from U of Sydney and Elizabeth Evatt in a large hall that was filled with several hundred people.  They commented that if this event had happened five years ago, the hall would have had few non specialists attending.

I grew up in a household with a father who was stridently racist and antisemitic.  I didn't like the things he was saying, neither did my mother or my siblings, but we didn't have the means to engage him productively so just stayed quiet.  I have yet to really understand what leads people to pick up these and similar beliefs and actions other than what dawned on me when I read "You are Accepted" in 1962 long before I met the ICA.  That essay changed my life and my life direction.  When I learned how the EI was using this piece, as well as its influence on our methods and mission, I was really grateful and still am.

Warmly

Richard

 On 19/12/2025 1:02 pm, Karen Newkirk wrote:

 Hi Richard,  Merry Christmas to you and Maria! 
  I have sent the letters to the ToP Network USA and the ICAI Board, however, as stated in the letter, we should wait until the ICAI Board and/or ourselves have received the hotel invoice before we process our payment.  
  Thank you Karen 
          Karen Clover Newkirk
 52 Nelson Rd Queenscliff VIC 3225 Grateful to the Wathaurung / WadawurungTraditional Owners. karennewkirk at gmail.com
 0419 577 489

 On 19 Dec 2025, at 9:42 am, balmkevin at gmail.com wrote: 
   Karen,   I’m good to go with the two letters.   Regards Kevin     From: Karen Newkirk <karennewkirk at gmail.com> 
 Sent: Friday, 19 December 2025 8:37 AM
 To: Kevin Balm <balmkevin at gmail.com>
 Cc: David Jago <david at smartmeetings.com.au>; Richard&Maria Maguire <richardandmaria at unfoldingfutures.net>; Ms. Michelle Rush <michelle at facilitate.co.nz>; Robyn Hutchinson <rjhutchinson48 at gmail.com>
 Subject: Re: DRAFT Response to ToP Network USA re-$ for conference     Hi Kevin (in particular), David, Richard and Michelle,  I have a response from Robyn:    “Im OK with these - in haste. thanks Robyn”.   Michelle has spoken. David and Richard were happy with the original.    Kevin, you have been closest to the issue and had significant feedback on the original draft. Could you please let me know your opinion on these two letters?   Thank you    Karen      Sent from my iPhone     

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