Sydney MP Allegra Spender was heckled as she arrived at first Bondi massacre funeral

There was an early sign of the emotion generated by Rabbi Eli Schlanger’s funeral in Bondi Beach on Wednesday, the first of 15 victims of Sunday’s massacre.

As the Federal MP responsible for the suburb, Allegra Spender, walked towards the Chabad of Bondi synagogue, a middle-aged man in black clothing and a Jewish skull cap yelled at her from the other side of the road.

“You’re a disgrace!” he said. “You should not be here! Go away.”

Ms Spender, an independent, did not answer back, but paused while the man walked towards the synagogue, where hundreds of people were gathering for the rabbi’s service.

The man, who declined to give his name, told The Nightly he was angry at Ms Spender’s decision to lobby the Albanese Government last February on behalf of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Known as UNRWA, and partially funded by Australia, many Israelis believe the agency came under the influence of Hamas and helped the terrorist group control the Gaza Strip before the war began in 2023.

PM no show

Ms Spender, who has advocated for Jewish groups too, was joined at the funeral by only one Federal Labor MP, Josh Burns, a Jew from Melbourne. The synagogue made arrangements to seat Anthony Albanese along with other VIPs, according to an organiser, but the prime minister did not attend.

Mr Albanese’s office said he did not receive an invitation and would have attended if he did. Given anger within Sydney’s Jewish community towards the government, which it perceives has abandoned them, Mr Albanese’s presence might have triggered a confrontation similar to Scott Morrison’s visit to the bushfire-devastated town of Cobargo in 2020, when firefighters refused to shake his hand.

Mr Morrison, who grew up Christian in an adjacent suburb, received a friendlier reception at the synagogue, home to a congregation of the Orthodox Lubavitch movement.

Journalists were not allowed inside. But several photographers, who entered with the organisers’ permission, hastily left when some mourners became upset they were taking photos as female family members hugged Rabbi Schlanger’s coffin. The 41-year-old, who was master of ceremonies of Sunday’s fatal Chanukah by the Sea event, left behind a widow, Chaya Schlanger, and five children, including a 2-month-old baby.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley and her state counterpart, Kellie Sloan, sat through the service in an internal balcony in the $30 million building, which was completed last year. Premier Chris Minns sat with the other men in the floor section in line with the orthodox separation of the sexes during religious ceremonies.

October 7

Rabbi Schlanger’s father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, described the attack as “our own seventh of October”, a reference to invasion of Israel by Hamas in 2023 that killed 1200 people, mostly civilians. “Now is the time to cry, but then we will rise, and we will take up rabbi Eli’s work,” he said.

One of the rabbi’s friends, Ricky Studencki, an online producer at Sky News, said: “He was a friend of mine and also a brother, and mentor to me.”

Police blocked off road access to the synagogue, which is about a kilometre from the site of the killings. Dozens of mourners stood outside because there wasn’t enough room inside the building.

A funeral for another rabbi, Yaakov Levitan, was held Wednesday afternoon in North Ryde, a suburb in north-west Sydney. The 39-year-old was chief operating officer of the Chabad of Bondi synagogue. He had three sons and a daughter with his wife, Adina Levitan.

The two rabbis’ wives have been best friends since high school, according to Chabad.org News.

Sixteen people died on Sunday, including one of the gunmen. Twenty-three of the 40 injured people are still in hospital, including two policemen. Probationary constable Jack Hibbert has lost sight in one eye, Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said and Constable Scott Dyson has undergone surgery and remains in a critical but stable condition.