The Immediate Impact and Terror of the Bondi Shooting Is Giving Way to Rage and Discord. We Must Look For the Light.

As the nation winds down for a traditional Christmas holiday during slow-moving days of coast and scorching heat accompanied by the soundtrack of Test cricket and insect sounds, this year the nation's summer mood feels, unfortunately, like no other.

It would be a dramatic oversimplification to characterize the national disposition after the anti-Jewish terrorist attack on Australian Jews during the beachside Hanukah celebrations as one of mere ennui.

Across the country, but nowhere more so than in Sydney – the most postcard picturesque of Australian cities – a tone of initial shock, sorrow and horror is shifting to anger and deep polarization.

Those who had previously missed the often voiced concerns of the Jewish community are now highly attuned. Just as, they are attuned to reconciling the need for a much more immediate, vigorous official fight against antisemitism with the right to demonstrate against mass atrocities.

If ever there was a moment for a national listening, it is now, when our belief in mankind is so sorely depleted. This is particularly so for those of us fortunate enough never to have endured the hatred and fear of religious and ethnic targeting on this land or anywhere else.

And yet the algorithms keep churning out at us the banal instant opinions of those with blistering, divisive views but no sense at all of that profound vulnerability.

This is a period when I regret not having a stronger spiritual belief. I lament, because believing in people – in mankind’s capacity for kindness – has failed us so painfully. Something else, something higher, is needed.

And yet from the atrocity of Bondi we have witnessed such extreme instances of human decency. The heroism of individuals. The selflessness of bystanders. First responders – law enforcement and paramedics, those who charged into the danger to aid others, some recognised but for the most part anonymous and unsung.

When the police tape still waved in the wind all about Bondi, the imperative of community, religious and cultural unity was admirably championed by faith leaders. It was a message of compassion and tolerance – of unifying rather than dividing in a time of antisemitic slaughter.

In keeping with the meaning of Hanukah (illumination amid darkness), there was so much appropriate reference of the need for lightness.

Togetherness, hope and love was the essence of belief.

And yet segments of the Australian polity responded so nauseatingly quickly with fragmentation, blame and recrimination.

Some elected officials moved straight for the darkness, using tragedy as a cynical chance to challenge Australia’s migration rules.

Observe the harmful message of division from longstanding agitators of Australian racial division, exploiting the attack before the crime scene was even cold. Then read the words of political figures while the probe was still active.

Government has a formidable job to do when it comes to uniting a nation that is grieving and frightened and looking for the light and, not least, explanations to so many uncertainties.

Like why, when the national terrorism threat level was assessed as probable, did such a significant public Hanukah event go ahead with such a woefully insufficient protection? Like how could the alleged killers have multiple firearms in the family home when the security agency has so openly and consistently alerted of the danger of antisemitic violence?

How quickly we were treated to that tired argument (or iterations of it) that it’s people not weapons that cause death. Of course, each point are valid. It’s feasible to simultaneously seek new ways to stop violent bigotry and keep firearms away from its potential perpetrators.

In this city of immense beauty, of clear blue heavens above sea and shore, the water and the beaches – our shared community spaces – may not look entirely familiar again to the many who’ve noted that iconic Bondi seems so incongruous with last weekend’s obscene bloodshed.

We yearn right now for understanding and significance, for family, and perhaps for the solace of beauty in art or the natural world.

This weekend many Australians are cancelling Christmas party plans. Reflective solitude will feel more appropriate.

But this is perhaps somewhat against instinct. For in these times of fear, anger, melancholy, bewilderment and grief we need each other now more than ever.

The reassurance of togetherness – the binding force of the unity in the very word – is what we likely need most.

But tragically, all of the indicators are that unity in public life and society will be hard to find this long, draining summer.