Mordechai Gut, brother-in-law of Chabad emissary Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, who was murdered in the Bondi Beach massacre in Sydney, spoke in an interview with Reshet B about the shock in the Jewish community after the massacre.
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""In Sydney, they didn't know what a terrorist attack was. Jews came here after the Holocaust, to a place without a history of anti-Semitism - where you can live without worries. Now the feeling is that the dream is over.".
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He noted that he had never felt threatened in Australia because of his Jewishness, but recently the concerns have increased. He said that the community warned of the escalation in relations with Jews - but to no avail: "They didn't take it that seriously, they didn't want to believe it.".
Gut charged that the terrorists who carried out the attack were on Australia's secret intelligence blacklist, but the authorities took preventive action against them: "They knew they had weapons and that they had expressed support for ISIS and did nothing.".
On the other hand, Gut praised the public support the community received after the massacre: "Flowers are being thrown at every synagogue, even in Melbourne. Messages of forgiveness are being written.".
About his murdered brother-in-law, he said: "He was an excellent man, who stood out for his humility. No one knows how much he did for the community.".
