The patient’s status was affirmed by the high-profile visitors on Tuesday. The prime minister of Australia, the Australian representative of King Charles III and a high-ranking Syrian diplomat.
They were all there to see Ahmed el Ahmed, the bystander who tackled one of the gunmen in Sunday’s massacre at Bondi Beach. Mr. el Ahmed was injured during the shooting and is being treated at St. George Hospital in Sydney, where he was waiting on Tuesday to undergo another round of surgery.
Mr. el Ahmed’s actions have rippled across the country and the world, giving Australians something to rally behind in a moment of grief and darkness.
A crowd of journalists was camped outside the hospital.
On Tuesday, Australian officials said that the two suspects had been motivated by the Islamic State. That prompted fears that attack could spur a surge in Islamophobia.
But some in the Muslim community said they hoped Mr. el Ahmed’s heroics would provide a beacon of hope and unity in Australia, where nearly one-third of the population was born overseas. Mr. el Ahmed, 43, is one of them — he migrated from Idlib, Syria, nearly 20 years ago, according to the Australians for Syria Association, and is Muslim.
Some community leaders said they were concerned that the shooting could put a target on Muslims in Australia.
“From the moment the attack happened, every Muslim person, man or woman, started to worry that now Islamophobia will start again, that they will judge us as terrorists again,” said Lubaba Alhmidi Kahil, the spokeswoman for the Australians for Syria Association, who visited Mr. el Ahmed on Tuesday.
No community should be judged by the actions of individuals, she said, adding that the suspected gunmen did not represent all Muslims.
Ms. Kahil said that when she found out that Mr. el Ahmed was Syrian and Muslim, she felt a surge of relief. “He didn’t save only those who were at Bondi Beach, he saved all Muslims,” she said.
Mr. el Ahmed’s well-wishers on Tuesday included Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Sam Mostyn, the governor general of Australia, and Mayer Dabbagh, a senior official from the Syrian consulate in Sydney.
“He is a true Australian hero,” Mr. Albanese said outside the hospital, in front of an Australian flag that was lowered to half-staff.
Other visitors, most of whom had no connection to shooting, expressed a mixture of lingering disbelief at Australia’s worst shooting in three decades, reverence at Mr. el Ahmed’s bravery, and hopes that the country would choose unity rather than division.
“A couple of lunatics should not affect how we feel about different religions or people of different ethnicities,” said Rita Bratanis, 54. She was especially worried about a potential backlash against the Muslim community.
“This is the beauty of Australia, that people are from every corner of the world,” said Ms. Bratanis, who is Christian Orthodox. “This is what we have to protect.”
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
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