In the wake of Bondi, Melbourne Jews prepare for crisis

Melbourne’s Jewish community is revamping its security plan in the wake of Sydney’s experience of the Bondi attack. 

The improved plan will focus on building relationships, both between communal organisations and with emergency and support organisations outside the community, including the police, fire department, and security planning teams.

 “We need relationship building, so that when there is a crisis, we’re not looking for them for the first time,” Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) Naomi Levin told The Jewish Independent.

Levin said the Jewish community in Victoria has had a crisis management plan since the Maccabiah Bridge collapse in 1997 and formal Jewish Community Crisis Management (JCCM) as part of the Community Security Group (CSG) plan for the past five years. The JCCM Alliance brings together organisations that could be impacted or useful in a crisis including Jewish Care and Hatzolah. 

“But obviously in the wake of what happened at Chanukah in Bondi, we decided it was time to review that crisis plan, just to make sure it was fit for purpose,” Levin said.

The JCCM Alliance recently held a workshop with Michele Goldman, the CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, to identify what Victoria could learn from the NSW experience.

“She really helped us to understand what that post-crisis response and recovery was like in Sydney after Bondi,” said Levin. “It helped us understand how the New South Wales community interacted with some of the non-Jewish organisations. Whether it was state or federal governments or emergency services that were available, where there were gaps that the community needed to fill, and what was needed.”