Australian authorities continue to investigate the Bondi Beach terror attack, which left 15 dead and 28 wounded. The Times of Israel reports that the attack was indeed ISIS-inspired, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced new gun buyback laws. It was also discovered that the two terrorists met with Islamist extremists weeks before the attack. At the same time, more stories of heroism are being told about both victims and survivors. One of these brave souls, who saved lives and lived to tell her story, is 14-year-old Chaya Dadon.
Chaya told her story from her hospital bed, detailing how she had hidden under a bench when the gunfire began. She could’ve stayed in her hiding place, but she saw two children across from her, out in the open by their wounded parents. With them in the line of fire and no one coming to get them, Chaya put her own life on the line to save the youngsters.
“I knew in that moment, I felt like Hashem was sitting right next to me,” she said in an interview with Reuters, using a Hebrew name for God. “He was whispering into my ear, ‘This is your mission: go save those kids.’”
The schoolgirl left the safety of her hiding spot, pulled the children away, and jumped on top of them, covering their bodies with her own.
At some point, she was shot in the thigh. But she kept shielding them, reciting the Shema, a Jewish prayer.
“I knew I got shot, but I wasn’t even worried. I channeled all that energy that I had into strength, and I made sure that I knew I had to be there for those kids,” she said. “If I could give up my life to save these children, that’s what I was going to do.”
Chaya was found by her father with both children in her arms. She was taken to Sydney Children’s Hospital and was released yesterday (four days later). In good health and spirits, she is on crutches as she recovers from her gunshot wound. Chaya says she does not know the kids she saved, nor has she seen them since, but she hopes to meet them again.
“Even if they can’t see it now, everyone is going to grow stronger because I really feel like that situation, everyone was tested,” she said.
Anti-Semitic terror is driven by the age-old desire to see the Jewish people eliminated. But throughout history, the Jewish people have endured. And Chaya‘s actions illustrate something many Jews, tragically, have had to learn at a young age: the significance of life and how, when they are tested, they only grow stronger. The Fellowship and our supporters praise God for her recovery.