Daughter of hero who died throwing brick at Bondi terrorist lashes out at Albanese authorities for ‘failing’ her father
The daughter of one of the Bondi terror attack heroes has described her father as ‘one to run towards danger’ to protect others, and claimed the Australian government failed him and the Jewish community.
On Sunday as a hail of bullets rang out and innocent men, women and children were cut down, Reuven Morrison, 62, fought with the only weapon he could find – a brick.
His daughter, Sheina Gutnick, said her father was a hero who defiantly refused to cower to the heavily armed terrorists despite the overwhelming odds. He sadly died while trying to save others.
Ms Gutnick identified her father as the second hero in widely circulated footage of Ahmed al-Ahmed disarming one of the gunmen.
After Mr al-Ahmed, 43, had wrestled the gun away, Mr Morrison chased after the terrorist and threw bricks he picked up from the park. Another video showed him pointing his finger and yelling at one of the gunmen between stalls of the festival.
He was one of the 15 innocent people who died on Sydney‘s Bondi Beach during the family Hanukkah celebration.
Ms Gutnick said the Australian Jewish community had been pleading for months in the lead up to the attack that a rise in anti-Semitism be taken seriously, but the ‘warning signs’ had been ignored by the government.
‘We have been begging and begging for action and it has fallen on deaf ears,’ she told CBS.
Sheina Gutnick (pictured), the daughter of Reuven Morrison who died in the Bondi Beach shooting, has broken her silence to celebrate her hero father
Mr Gutnick (pictured) died after a throwing bricks at one of the terrorists at Bondi on Sunday
In another video, Mr Morrison (left) could be seen yelling at a gunman (right)
The 62-year-old had fled the Soviet Union for Australia, becoming a ‘loud and proud Jew’ in a community that welcomed him with open arms.
He carved out a new home and built a family and a business.
‘He put others before himself. It cost him his life,’ Ms Gutnick said. ‘If there was one way for him to go on this Earth, it would be fighting a terrorist.’
She said he ‘jumped up the second’ the shooting broke out and selflessly tried to help others.
‘Everyone that knew him knew the incredible man that he was… the light that he added.
‘There was no other way he would be taken from us. He went down fighting, protecting the people he loved the most. My father was murdered. In cold blood. Shot. For being Jewish.
‘Ripped from his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and dear grandchildren. Leaving a gaping, heaving wound of sorrow.’
When asked who had ‘failed’ her family, Ms Gutnick was blunt in her response: ‘The Australian government.’
The two gunmen took 15 innocent lives while targeting a Jewish holiday festival (pictured, a mourner at the memorial on Tuesday)
Ms Gutnick blamed the Australian Government for ‘failing’ the Jewish community (pictured, the memorial at Bondi Pavilion on Tuesday)
‘They’ve had the warning signs for so long,’ she said.
As the criminal investigation into the surviving gunman continues, some of those grieving are urging their religious rites for the dead be respected.
Chana Anzalak, whose father-in-law Tibor Weitzen also died in the bloodbath, has begged for his remains to be released.
‘In our religion, the biggest respect that we can give to our dead, to the deceased, is to bury them straight away,’ Ms Anzalak told Nine News at Bondi.
‘And unfortunately, in this situation, we’re at a standstill, and we’re stuck. We can’t start the Shiva (the traditional morning period).
‘It’s been over 36 hours. This is extremely painful, and every minute and every hour that goes by is sacred.’
The parents of the massacre’s youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda, visited the makeshift memorial at Bondi Beach, metres from where the girl was gunned down while celebrating Hanukkah.
She and a 40-year-old man died of their wounds in hospital after the Sunday evening attack, while 13 people were killed at the scene.
Families of the 15 victims are still waiting to receive their loved ones’ remains (pictured, the memorial on Tuesday)
Ms Gutnick (right) said it was in her father’s (left) character to die ‘fighting a terrorist’
Another 42 were injured.
It’s the nation’s deadliest shooting since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
Dozens remain in hospital, including 12 fighting for their lives in a critical condition.
The federal government has offered support for victims’ funerals and any visitor visas for relatives wishing to visit Australia for those funerals.
State financial support will also be offered through the Victims Support Scheme, while trained disaster mental health support clinicians will be on the ground at Bondi in the coming days to help the wider community manage trauma.
