Ed Halmagyi is 198 centimetres tall and a former champion boxer. “I can take care of myself,” he says. “I’m very happy being steadfast and standing my ground.”
Since opening his Surry Hill bakery, Avner’s, in late 2023, Halmagyi has faced regular antisemitic graffiti, threats and slurs. He has had glue put in his door locks, break-ins, and human faeces thrown at his windows. But Halmagyi never let it get to him.
“That’s just intimidation,” he says. “But the prospect of real violence? That is there now in a way that it wasn’t before.
Avner’s, a Jewish food institution owned by Ed Halmagyi, is closing down.Credit: Peter Rae
“Threats of violence are a different category. Sunday’s event was clearly violence, pure, unadulterated violence. It was meant to kill, and it was meant to destroy social bonds.”
The attack at Bondi Beach targeted the Jewish community on the first night of Hanukkah and left 15 people dead; the surviving gunman has been charged with murder and terrorism.
Halmagyi wrote to his community on Wednesday that he was closing his beloved bakery, best known for chocolate babka and sesame bagels, effective immediately. Since the announcement, he has received dozens of bouquets and notes expressing gratitude for his publicly Jewish food institution.
“I genuinely believe that [the attacks on the combination of our being sufficiently high-profile publicly Jewish as to have been individually identified and targeted. Most Jews are not individually targeted because most of them get on with their lives very quietly,” Halmagyi said.
Flowers and notes outside Avner’s following the news of its closure.Credit: Peter Rae
“I made a decision to work publicly because I thought it was important to represent the very best that our community has to offer. But in doing so, I put myself into public conversations that aren’t healthy. I now have to deal with the fact that if somebody decides they want to go and get someone publicly, I am precisely that sort of person.”
Halmagyi said he could no longer put himself, his family, staff and customers at risk after what he thought was the unimaginable, a fatal mass shooting at a Hanukkah event, was realised.
“The idea that people who are sufficiently well motivated to cause violence, intimidation and the destruction of property and life have many resources other than guns at their hands,” he said.
“Someone is going to do the next unthinkable.”
Another Sydney Jewish food business, Lox In A Box, owned by Candy Berger and Gaia Lovell, said they were heartbroken after being hit with one-star and antisemitic Google reviews following the shooting.
“Went to bed heartbroken and completely devastated,” the post on Instagram read. “This is what I woke to in my inbox … It’s so disheartening, where’s our collective humanity? Antisemitism is not a joke … posting negative antisemitic reviews can really harm a small business like ours.
“We have always been a super inclusive business; we have always tried our hardest to never exclude anyone, so reviews like this actually do hurt, personally.”
Halmagyi said he opened Avner’s in Surry Hills in an attempt to create a safe Jewish space outside eastern Sydney and make a difference in how his community is perceived.
Avner’s closing sign.Credit: Peter Rae
“My whole argument, right from the start, was … that if Jewish Australians want to be loved, respected and included as anyone should be, then you couldn’t set out with an idea that you want to hide yourself away in the shtetl [community] of the eastern suburbs,” he said.
Having worked at a bakery in his teens, well before becoming a TV personality and presenter on Better Homes and Gardens, known as “Fast Ed”, Halmagyi said running Avner’s gave him real meaning.
“I needed to do something of value,” he said. “I believe that family entertainment really does matter, but it didn’t give me the sense of meaning and making a difference that I wanted for my life. This absolutely has, and not just for the Jewish community, for Surry Hills as a community.”
Bondi Beach incident helplines:
- Bondi Beach Victim Services on 1800 411 822
- Bondi Beach Public Information & Enquiry Centre on 1800 227 228
- NSW Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 or Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or chat online at kidshelpline.com.au
More Bondi terror coverage
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
