A family were viciously attacked by a gang of thugs as they strolled home after midnight after a Shabbat dinner.

The group, one woman and four men, all wearing kippot, were approached by eight teenagers in the Bondi area of Sydney on Friday and subjected to a volley of racist abuse.

The men, three of whom had served in the IDF, stood their ground and fought back when the mob attacked them.

Security guards from a nearby nightspot intervened and many of the attackers fled as police arrived.

They arrested two 17-year-old boys and a 23-year-old man. All have been charged with affray and will appear in court later.

The most badly injured was Eli Behar, 66, who suffered bleeding to his brain but is expected to make a complete recovery, according to a spokesman for St Vincent’s Hospital.

He was with four members of his family at the time of the attack. The fifth man was Shlomo Ben Haiem, education shaliach for the Jewish National Fund who served in an IDF intelligent unit.

Another victim, Zeev Aronstam, a Mizrachi Jew born in Gush Etzion, said he preferred not to discuss the incident, simply saying: “We believe in God.”

Yair Miller, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said: “The attack was the worst incident of antisemitic violence in Sydney for many years.”