More than 1,000 people had gathered on Bondi Beach to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah when a terror plot allegedly unfolded: a father and son opened fire with rifles into the crowd and had an improvised explosive device ready in their car. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attack was “a targeted attack on Jewish Australians.” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said it was “designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community.”
Albanese noted the younger suspect had been investigated by Australia’s primary intelligence agency in 2019 reportedly over links to a suspected ISIS cell in Sydney but was not deemed a security threat. That has raised questions about whether security services missed warning signs.
Eyewitness accounts and video show the shooters firing toward the beach for more than five minutes from a bridge, taking time to aim and duck between shots. In one video a civilian, later identified as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, jumped on the back of one shooter and wrestled his gun away; local reports say he suffered two gunshot wounds. “The first initial reaction wasn’t even by police, it was by civilians, which raised a lot of questions about the role of police,” said Oded Ailam, who worked in Israeli intelligence and reviewed footage for CBS News.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said police “responded promptly” and that the force works closely with the Jewish community, adding their priority is keeping people safe. Officials declined to call the event an intelligence failure while investigations continue.
Authorities say the alleged assailants, originally from Pakistan, had six legally purchased firearms and had assembled an improvised explosive device to target the gathering. Ailam and other analysts have called the attack preplanned and raised the prospect of wider affiliations, including whether Iran or Hezbollah might be implicated.
The shooting comes amid a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. New data from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) show incidents remain at historically high levels — almost five times the average annual number before Oct. 7, 2023 — the largest spike among J7 countries (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Argentina and Australia). The J7 Task Force Against Antisemitism met in Sydney less than a week before the Bondi attack to discuss growing security threats to the Jewish community.
Notable attacks over the past year included arson at Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue and fire set to the doors of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, forcing worshippers to flee, and an arson attack on kosher food provider Lewis Continental Kitchen in Sydney. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) assessed that the arson attacks on the synagogue and the food company were directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In August, Prime Minister Albanese expelled Iran’s ambassador and three other Iranian diplomats, citing that assessment. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman publicly condemned the Sydney attack as unlawful and criminal.
Counter-extremism experts warn the incidents are becoming more violent. “This attack is not only the latest in a disturbing series of antisemitic incidents in Australia but also around the globe,” said Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League, noting the international pattern of rising violence.
As investigations proceed, questions remain about intelligence assessments, the decision not to treat the younger suspect as a security threat in 2019, and whether authorities had adequate measures in place to protect clearly identifiable holiday gatherings after months of heightened threats. New South Wales officials emphasize their focus on community safety while inquiries into the planning, motive and possible external links to the attack continue.
