Sharabi recalled telling officials that a hate crime would occur in Australia and that he would “see the fears” of Jewish people walking the streets. He urged them to speak out against anti-Semitism before it was too late.
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Rabbi Yossi Friedman addresses people who gather at a floral memorial at the Bondi Pavilion on Bondi Beach on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, following a shooting in Sydney, Australia. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)
“Unfortunately it happened. And that’s crazy, it’s crazy. Really, I’m so sorry,” he said.
A spokesperson for Wong said she “greatly appreciated her meeting with Eli Sharabi and thanked him for sharing his insights and experiences.”
“Minister Wong has consistently condemned anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic attacks,” the spokesperson said. “In response to the horrific anti-Semitic terror attack on Bondi, we are strengthening the laws against those who spread anti-Semitism and online abuse, ensuring our education system responds appropriately to anti-Semitism and lowering the barrier to revoking visas for those who come to Australia to spread anti-Semitism.”
The spokesperson also conveyed Wong’s condolences to the loved ones of the Bondi Beach shooting victims.
“Suddenly you feel like it’s the 1940s again and we’re in 2025, 90 years later, and all these things are happening again,” Sharabi said.
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A member of the Jewish community reacts as he walks with police to the scene of a shooting on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
On February 8, 2025, Sharabi was released from Hamas captivity, 491 days after he was taken hostage by Kibbutz Be’eri during the October 7, 2023 massacre. Only after he was released did he know that his wife Lianne and their daughters Noiya and Yahel had been killed when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel.
Since his release, Sharabi has traveled the world speaking to Jewish communities, world leaders and various audiences about his experiences as a hostage, something he recounted in his book “Hostage,” which has been translated into several languages.
Israeli hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami were handed over by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross on February 8, 2025 in Deir al Balah, Gaza, under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel. (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
After he was released, he discovered that while he was in the hands of terrorists, people around the world were praying for him and demanding that he and the other hostages be released.
He said that while he was in the hospital in the days after his release, he was slowly exposed to the work people in Israel and around the world were doing to advocate for him and the other hostages. It started with revelations about his family and friends, and then his realization that people in Israel and around the world were also joining the fight for his release.
He soon joined the fight and advocated for the release of all hostages, including Alon Ohel, someone Sharabi bonded with during his captivity.
Sharabi said he and Ohel have seen each other as free men a few times and they try to talk every day.
Eli Sharabi, who spent 491 days in Hamas captivity and whose wife and two daughters were killed by terrorists, speaks at the United Nations. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Former Hamas hostage Eli Sharabi and Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon hold a photo of Sharabi’s family showing his wife and daughters, all three of whom were killed on October 7, 2023. (Perry Bindelglass/Israeli UN Mission)
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While his plans to move to London have changed, Sharabi envisions living a quiet life and focusing on his own healing once the body of Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage in Gaza, is returned to Israel. However, Sharabi said he cannot return to Kibbutz Be’eri and will likely look for a fresh start further north in central Israel.
“I cannot go back to Be’eri. It is something that I have to solve with myself and of course with my therapist. How can I get back into my house? For me, who lives in Be’eri, that is not an option. In every corner I can see the tragedy,” said Sharabi. “I need a new place, a new restart of my life, so it can’t be in Be’eri.”
