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A Year 8 Jewish girl risked her life to shield two small children during the Bondi terror attack—praying, wounded, and insisting she is not a hero.

A Year 8 student who used her body to shield two kids under five at Bondi is refusing to be called a hero.

Chaya Dadon was shot in the leg after putting her own life at risk to shelter the children.

Islamists appear to have targeted the kids after shooting their approximately 25-year-old mother in the head.

Dadon recalled the incident, saying she saw the mother’s wound and decided to act after hearing her call out for someone to save her children.

Praying the Shema, and taking cover, Dadon said she and another Jewish friend used a bench and a pram to protect themselves.

From there, the teenager recalled “seeing the mum and an elderly woman with a belly wound, both bleeding out.”

“It was graphic,” Dadon told Sky News.

They were “screaming, ‘Please save my son. Save the children.’”

Divine Mission

Moving into harm’s way, Dadon moved out from under a bench and made it “her mission to save the kids.”

“This was God testing me, saying go save the children,” she added.

“So, I climbed out from under the bench, and everyone was screaming, ‘Get down, save yourself. Save yourself!’”

Ignoring the shouting, Dadon thought, “No, God is next to me. God is telling me. God is with me, and I am doing this.”

According to the teenager, after a brief pause, the Islamists began firing again.

She didn’t care. Dadon determined that she was “doing it.”

“Whatever happens is for the good, and if I die saving kids’ lives, then that’s the best way I would want to die.”

“Because that’s what God wanted from me,” she explained.

Holding On

Upon reaching the kids, Dadon said, she found them covered in blood.

Grabbing them, the Jewish teenager then put her whole body between the children and the bullets.

The whole thing was like watching a movie, she remarked.

“It felt like an out-of-body experience. I jumped onto them, and I was like a cave to them.”

While sheltering the two, Dadon said she began wiping the blood away from their faces.

Trying to keep them calm, Dadon also told the kids that she loved them.

This was when the bullet hit.

Retelling the event to Sky, Dadon remembered “feeling the impact of the shot, and knowing she’d been shot in the thigh.”

Despite the bullet wound, she refused to let go.

Protected

Choosing to keep sheltering the kids with her body instead of saving herself, Dadon said she channelled the pain into strength.

“I didn’t know how I did it, I’ve never practised doing that,” she added.

Wounded and still under fire, Dadon tried calling an overwhelmed triple-0 to no avail.

After being told “we can’t help you”, the 14-year-old rang her dad.

“He came straight away,” Dadon added.

Another man stepped in and took the kids so her dad could “put pressure on the leg wound.”

Not really noticing the bullet hole, Dadon said she thought the shot had just gone through her skirt.

Realising there was more to it, she said she could see “everything going on in her leg.”

Speaking with Reuters, Dadon is adamant she’s not a hero.

“I don’t feel like I’m a hero. I feel like everyone was a hero in that situation, even if they can’t see it right now.”

“Everyone is going to grow stronger because this situation was a test for a lot of people.”

Appeal for the Bondi Terrorist Attack Victims

Celebrate Israel, in partnership with the Canberra Declaration and other supporters, have organised a relief fund appeal for the victims and families of the Sydney Bondi Beach terrorist attack.

Our giving team is called Celebrate Israel Australia on the platform and is part of a much larger appeal run on the Charidy giving website. All donations are tax-deductible and will be administrated by the Jewish United Support Fund.

The relief fund will provide direct financial support, helping families begin to rebuild their lives after this tragedy. Assistance is especially needed to cover essential commitments when the family’s primary breadwinner has been killed. Find out more about this appeal on The Daily Declaration here.

Please stand alongside the Jewish community as a visible demonstration of God’s love to them at this critical time of need. So far, far, as of writing, over $17,000 has already been donated, and we prayerfully seeking to raise $100,000.

Please share this appeal button with your church networks and friends.

Give by clicking the green button below.

DONATE TO JEWISH RELIEF FUND