Harry and Meghan meet Jewish Museum Team at Bondi
Media Release posted in Sydney Friday 17 April,2026
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, today met key members of the Sydney Jewish Museum at Bondi.
The meeting took place at the request of the couple – who were moved and inspired by a New York Times report tracing the Museum’s response to the tragic antisemitic
terrorist attack that took place at Sydney’s iconic beach on December 14.
The diligent work of the Museum in collecting and preserving the tonnes of loving tributes and expressions of grief left at the site went ‘viral’ in the
international media. The world followed as an army of volunteers assembled at dawn to collect it all, then began the work of sorting, processing and preserving everything from handmade offerings, textiles, cards and soft toys, to hundreds of painted stones and three tonnes of flowers.
The collected tributes will form part of a new dedicated gallery at the Museum with a commissioned floral artwork as part of a temporary exhibition space.
The Museum is also saving the physical evidence and recording the oral testimony of the survivors, witnesses and heroes. It is boosted by partnerships with state-of-the-art global archives to keep and share the commemorative tributes for posterity.
The Sydney Jewish Museum is currently undergoing a transformative redevelopment growing from a small volunteer-run historical museum founded 30 years ago as a site of remembrance and education, into a significant part of Sydney’s cultural landscape. The Museum is expected to more than double its 50,000 annual visitors (more than half of them students) when the new Centre of Contemporary Jewish Life, (sitting side-by-side with the original Holocaust museum), opens in June next year.
SJM President Greg Shand AM said that the tragic events at Bondi have thrust the Museum and its contribution into the international spotlight. The attack – as well as the rising tide of antisemitism since October 7, 2023 – has inspired the Museum to also incorporate a new Centre to Educate against Antisemitism as part of the redeveloped Museum. “Through collecting and preserving, we will continue to ensure that future generations can understand the moments that shape our community and learn from the lessons of history,” Shand added.
Today Harry and Meghan met Shand, SJM Senior Curator Shannon Biederman (who spearheaded the preservation project), survivors Jessica Chapnik Kahn (who covered her daughter during the shooting), Elon Zizer (who survived multiple gunshot wounds while covering his children – after 10 days in a coma) as well as first responder, Bondi Surf Life Saver Jacob Ezrakhovich.
Prince Harry was moved to meet first responder Jacob who was also with his family at the shooting. He thanked Jacob and his team for “committing to all the training involved in keeping the community safe”.
The Duchess had tears in her eyes as she spoke with survivor Jessica (pictured above). “I can’t imagine what it would have been like to experience that with your child. It’s beyond my imagination.”
Background:
The events in Bondi on December 14, 2025, when two terrorists opened fire on Jewish families celebrating the festival of Chanukah, were shocking and devastating. It was
a turning point that profoundly affected Australian Jewry and horrified the whole nation. It was immediately clear that this moment needed to be documented with care, sensitivity, and urgency.In the aftermath, the Museum played a key role in preserving the spontaneous memorial at Bondi Pavilion. At 5am on Monday 22 December, volunteers from the Sydney Jewish Museum, the Australian Jewish Historical Society, and workers from Waverley Council gathered in light rain to begin. Led by senior curator Shannon Biederman, they worked tirelessly to collect three tonnes of flowers, and more than 1500 other beautiful, heart-filled items of tribute (soft toys, textiles, hand-made hearts, hamsas and Stars of David among them).It was a complex logistical exercise that ensured these expressions of love were not forgotten and that the 15 lives lost, the survivors and brave responders were honoured. The tributes were taken to two storage facilities – one in the city for the three-dimensional items and another in Artarmon where the floral tributes were sorted and placed on drying racks.At the same time, artist Nina Sanadze of Melbourne’s Goldstone Gallery – already slated for an exhibition when the redeveloped museum opens in 2027 – had urged the flowers be saved as the basis for a memorial artwork. So began the intertwined efforts: the Museum’s preservation and stewardship of the tributes, and Sanadze’s artistic transformation of the floral material into a work of remembrance which will be displayed in Museum. Nina travelled to Sydney to join Shannon in overseeing and directing the various processes involved: the flowers were sorted, broken into constituent parts and preserved in innovative ways. More than a hundred volunteers ironed dried petals, pressed flowers by species and colour, enclosed some in silicone and reduced pollen to pigment for paint. Even the decayed portions were saved for potting compost! The concept of an installation called ‘Petal by Petal’ began to take shape. Alongside this artistic response, the Museum has been working to ensure the historical evidence and stories are preserved for posterity. This will form part of a new gallery exploring the escalation of antisemitism following 7 October 2023, culminating in the Bondi attack, and examining how misinformation and prejudice affect broader Australian society. It will have a prominent place in the museum when it reopens. The Museum has also initiated an oral history project – in partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation in the US – recording the testimony of survivors, first responders, witnesses and everyday heroes from that terrible day in December. It has also created a crowd-sourced online gallery called Remembering Bondi – to gather contributions, reflections and experiences from the community.
Visit www.remembering-bondi.sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au
