When a Sydney mom invited her son’s entire school year to his bar mitzvah at the Bondi Pavilion, she figured it’d be a great way to end the year. But it turned into a terrifying nightmare.
Sarah Vanunu was born and raised in Australia, but moved to Israel when she was 21. She moved back to Sydney’s eastern suburbs a few years ago, with her three children and husband.
Her middle-child, Zacky, was the first in his year to turn 13. He attends a private school in the eastern suburbs, and she wanted to celebrate his coming-of-age by including everyone.
“We had rented out the big room downstairs, and we invited the whole grade because my son is the eldest and this was the first bar mitzvah,” she told news.com.au.
“It was the first weekend of the summer holidays and the first night of Hanukkah.”
Usually, the family attends Chanukah by the Sea, an annual family-friendly event held in Bondi to mark the beginning of Hanukkah.
Holding her son’s bar mitzvah next door to the event made it easy for other families; they could drop one kid off and entertain themselves at the fair if they didn’t want to stay.
In the days leading up to the event, Vanunu texted other parents to remind them it would be busy and parking could be tricky, so they might want to Uber.
At first, everything was going to plan.
“People arrived, and we took photos, and there was lots of excitement, the music would have started about 6.30pm, and we were playing Israeli music and the Israeli flag out, and then there was some traditional dancing,” she said.
“100 kids were dancing for a good 15 minutes.”
Less than 50 meters away, a father and son, Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, arrived at Bondi with rifles and allegedly started shooting at innocent people, including children.
“We had a good 15 minutes of pure joy and celebration and happiness, and then after 15 minutes the gunshots started,” she said.
“Pretty quickly, people heard it because we had hired the whole courtyard, so there were many guests outdoors, and the glass doors were open.”
In footage supplied to news.com.au, you can see the moment the party is interrupted by the sound of gunshots and people running inside.
“People began to run, and people were screaming ‘run, run, run, there’s a shooter,” she said.
“So many kids got caught up in the stampede, and we lost them.”
‘Started hearing people scream’
Everything quickly descended into chaos.
People were fleeing the beach and nearby areas and coming into the pavilion for shelter, and everyone hid in the back room.
“We started hearing people scream ‘get inside’ and they pushed us into the back room and closed the door, and there was no air conditioning, and it was so hot,” she said.
Vanunu said at least 200 people had attended their event alone, and soon they were joined by countless other scared strangers.
“Moms got separated from their children, and there was a lot of screaming, ‘Where are people?’ And we could not account for people,” she said.
Vanunu was lucky, because all her children were with her, but many parents didn’t know where their children had gone.
“We got updates that some of the kids had fled to the police station and ended up taking cover over at the police station, some people tried to run out to find their kids,” she said.
“My children have run from rockets because they were raised in Israel, but this was their first time being surrounded by so many distressed people.”
‘Shared moment of humanity’
The mom pointed out that her son is the eldest in his year, so every other child that attended the event was under the age of 12.
None had encountered a terror attack before, and no one knew what was going to happen while they hide from the gunmen.
“Some were very brave and trying to calm others,” she said.
“But many were having a very hard time, not to mention the frantic adults, and the adults that could not find their wives and kids.”
Vanunu said she found a small silver lining in the fact that, because the gunshots had interrupted a party, they had food and refreshments to offer people who had taken refuge with them.
She said it felt like a “shared moment of humanity,” being able to literally break bread with people while they hid inside and prayed for everyone’s safety.
‘Where are my kids?’
Vanunu thinks they were stuck inside for about two hours, with police urging them to stay in place, but says it felt like forever.
When they were finally able to leave the pavilion, they had to leave everything behind, as they were escorted by police across Campbell Parade.
That is when she learned that people had been killed.
“Once we got near McDonalds, I saw a woman I recognized, and she had blood on her shirt, and I asked if she was okay, and she said, ‘My husband was killed.”
It would later be confirmed that 15 innocent people had been killed, including 10-year-old Matilda. More than 40 people were injured.
Vanunu said even once they left the pavilion, and she knew her family was safe, she could not relax, because so many children were missing that had fled during the bar mitzvah gunfire.
“I felt immense responsibility because I invited the whole grade and they were all there because I told them to be there,” she said.
“I had phone calls from parents asking me, ‘Where are my kids?’ And I couldn’t answer them because I didn’t know where their children were and there was chaos because they’d all left their phones behind.”
She said, days later, she is still learning where some of the kids ended up, hiding during the massacre.
“Some children ran all the way home, other kids jumped into a freezer somewhere, others ran into shops, some went in to the police station,” she said.
“The kids just dispersed and I felt terrible because I couldn’t account for everyone.”
Vanunu said that, over the coming days, she has learned that every child who attended her son’s bar mitzvah is safe and home with their families.
“All the kids are safe and it is a f—ing miracle,” she said.
Looking back, Vanunu said it is confronting to think about how close they all came to death.
She believes if the gunman had known there was a bar mitzvah being held meters away from them, they would have entered the pavilion and started shooting.
“They had no idea that a bar mitzvah was happening under their noses, and if one had turned right, and not left, we would have been sitting ducks,” she said.
“It is a lot to take in because we came close.”
Although she is relieved and all the children are safe, she is aware that so many, if not all, are “traumatized,” and recently her own daughter asked if she could move her bed away from the window to feel safer.
She’s now come to the conclusion that her son’s bar mitzvah was meant to happen when it did: if it hadn’t been held on that very day, so many of his schoolmates would have been at the fair.
“I know that this bar mitzvah saved many lives,” she said.
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