‘Maybe she’s an angel now’, says aunt of 10-year-old victim

The family of Matilda, the youngest victim of the Bondi attack, said their final farewell to the 10-year-old on Thursday as they appealed to the community not to let her death fuel anger.

Matilda was among 15 people shot dead when two gunmen opened fire at an event marking the start of Hanukkah at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday.

Speaking to the BBC at Matilda’s funeral, her aunt Lina Chernykh said the Jewish community was right to call for more action to stamp out antisemitism; so is he.

But he said Matilda was a cheerful child who spread love wherever she went and called on the community to do the same in her honour.

“Take your anger and… spread happiness, love and memory only for my beloved niece,” Ms. Chernykh said.

“I hope maybe he’s an angel now. Maybe he [will] Send good energies to the world.”

Jewish community leaders have suggested the recent tragedy was an inevitable consequence of Australia’s struggle to combat rising antisemitism.

Sunday’s attack was the deadliest incident in the country since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people during the Port Arthur massacre.

Mourners, including Governor-General Sam Mostyn and New South Wales premier Chris Minns, attended the ceremony in Sydney and wore bee brooches and stickers as gifts for the girl who adored them.

Michael and Valentyna named their daughter after the song Waltzing Matilda, as a tribute to the country where their Ukrainian family found safety.

“She’s waltzing with the angels,” said Minns, who read a poem in her honor.

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, who led the service, had to stop and collect himself as he paid tribute to Matilda’s short life.

“The tragic, utterly brutal and incomprehensible murder of young Matilda is for all of us as if our own daughter had been taken away from us,” he said.

The service heard how he lived with beauty, goodness and truth.

“Jews… believe that death is not eternal… it is not because we are naive,” Rabbi Ulman said.

“I tell you with firm conviction that the separation from Matilda will not last forever.”

He acknowledged, however, that his words would provide little consolation; This is something he knows very well. The day before, Rabbi Ulman spoke at the funeral of his son-in-law, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in the attack on Bondi.

“You give me strength at a time when you need strength too. I try to do the same,” he told Matilda’s weeping parents in the front row.

Ms Chernykh had previously said the family was devastated.

“I look at their faces [and] I don’t know if they will ever be happy again,” he said of Matilda’s parents.

She said her younger sister, with whom Matilda was “inseparable”, was shattered and confused.

“There aren’t enough tears to cry.”

At a floral tribute on Tuesday, Matilda’s mother, Valentyna, told mourners that the family was living a nightmare.

“I couldn’t imagine losing my daughter here,” he said.

Ms. Chernykh also had difficulty making sense of what was happening.

Matilda’s mother was gardening at her Gold Coast home when she called on Sunday.

“I was honestly thinking that something had happened to my father because he was 84 years old… and he said Matilda had been shot,” she recalled.

“How [could] If someone in Australia tells you that your child has been shot, they will understand… I couldn’t understand that. I thought I was received badly. I asked several times what I was [hearing]”

While police described the attack as a terrorist incident, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it appeared to be motivated by the “Islamic State” group ideology.

Police claimed that the two gunmen were father and son. While 50-year-old Sajid Akram was shot dead at the scene, his 24-year-old son Naveed is accused of 59 crimes, including 15 murders and one terrorist act.

Australia announced on Thursday it would strengthen laws to crack down on hate, including powers to cancel or refuse visas on grounds of antisemitism.