Lantos Foundation President Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett released this statement following the tragic Bondi Beach massacre on December 14, 2025.
As young teenagers, my mother and father, Tom and Annette Lantos, became hated and hunted in their native Hungary, simply for the “crime” of being Jewish. It was a nightmare. Usually, we speak of awakening from a nightmare with the hope that life will resume a measure of normalcy and equilibrium. As I shared the news of the Bondi Beach massacre in Australia with my now 94-year-old Holocaust survivor mother, the thought came to me that for Jews around the world, we are instead awakening to a nightmare. Once again, Jews are being hunted and murdered simply because they are Jewish. Bondi Beach is the latest, but I fear not the last, such tragedy that the world will witness.
Many have already commented on the supreme irony of this attack occurring on the first night of Hanukkah – the Jewish holiday that celebrates hope, courage, determination and, above all, the light that miraculously was not extinguished.
The same day as the terrible events at Bondi Beach, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of murdered October 7 hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and one of our 2025 Lantos Prize Laureates, published a beautiful essay about recently released footage of her son and five other hostages celebrating Hanukkah during their captivity. Her words are incredibly moving:
“Seeing these young, vibrant, and luminous Jews keeping alive their over 2,000-year-old tradition of lighting Hanukkah candles, even when in the bowels of hell on earth, you cannot help but feel something…In these dark times, it is a flicker of light. The flame is whispering something…It is hope. Hope! It’s not a suggestion, or advice. It is a command.”
So, I ask myself, where do we find hope at such a time as this, with violent antisemitism surging throughout the world? One place that I find hope is in the powerful video of a brave Muslim fruit vendor, Ahmed Al Ahmed, who courageously charged forward to tackle one of the Bondi murderers, no doubt saving many lives. Amid the terror and darkness, this man’s humanity and bravery is more than a silver lining. It is a reminder and challenge to each of us to stand in solidarity with the persecuted and hated, whoever and wherever they may be. His willingness to step up at the moment of testing brings to mind the words of my late father Tom Lantos: “The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we can never rest.”
Each of us will face a moment of testing, and we will be forced to choose whether to do our part to keep the light of hope and humanity burning. In ancient Israel 2,000 years ago, at Hanukkah, the light did not go out. Nor will our light go out. We will never rest in our struggle to rid the world of the evils of antisemitism, prejudice, and hatred – nor will we rest in the long journey towards human rights, justice, and freedom for all.