On Sunday, the “Chanuka by the Sea” celebration in Bondi Beach, Australia, became the site of a rare mass shooting police have now declared a terrorist attack against the Jewish community.
The act of violence killed 15 people and injured 40.
Among the casualties was 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest to be killed in the attack. One of the oldest killed was Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who died shielding his wife, Larisa, from the gunman’s bullets.
Also killed was Eli Schlaner, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi who served as a “key organizer of the event,” according to Chabad.org’s post on X about the incident.
Ahmed al Ahmed attempts to subdue one of the two shooters at Bondi Beach in Australia (video screencap)
The thread also explains that, according to surviving attendees, police response time was slow enough to allow the gunmen to “reload and resume shooting,” although “one gunman was interrupted when a middle-aged man heroically charged him and wrestled the long gun from him.”
The hero has since been identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, 43, a fruit shop owner and father of two who was shot in the shoulder during the encounter. Video of the incident shows Al Ahmed was able to seize the gun from the attacker and turn it back on him, leading him to retreat toward a bridge where the other gunman was firing.
The hero has since been identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, 43, a fruit shop owner and father of two.
Dashcam footage from a local driver shows another attempt at disarming one of the shooters by an elderly couple identified as Boris and Sofia Gurman. Both were killed during the attack.
The two gunmen have been identified by authorities as Sajid Akram, 50, who was shot dead on the scene, and his son Naveed, 24, who is currently in the hospital. Police recovered six guns from the scene of the shooting, all of which were used during the attack.
According to Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barret, the attack was “inspired by Islamic State,” a suspicion authorities confirmed after finding two IS flags in a car that belonged to Naveed Akram.
What is the Islamic State?
IS originated from the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2003, made up of former al-Qaeda elements. In 2013, then-leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi merged ISI and the Nursa Front (al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria) to form the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham/the Levant (ISIS/ISIL). Al-Qaeda leaders rejected this decision and a year later cut ties with IS.
Soon after, Baghdadi declared the group a caliphate and changed its name to the Islamic State. This declaration was rejected by an overwhelming majority of the world’s Muslims.
For Muslims, a caliphate is a political institution that claims its leader, the caliph, is a successor of the Islamic prophet Muhammed. Historically, the concept of the caliphate as a political institution was intended to foster unity among Muslims worldwide, offering a sense of shared identity and collective community. This was the political system utilized by Muslim nation-states from Muhammad’s death in 632 until the last Ottoman Caliph’s overthrow in 1924.
However, the concept has been co-opted by extremist groups like IS who utilize the religious authority it provides to engage in acts of violence.
Important to the public’s understanding of mainstream Muslim life is their rejection of these misconstructions. Mainstream Muslims argue political violence, such as what occurred on Sunday at Bondi Beach, are abuses of theology, and true Islamic practice does not promote this kind of violence.
In their investigations on the Bondi Beach gunmen, the Philippines Bureau of Immigration have confirmed that both suspects recently traveled to the Philippines for most of November. Although investigators have not confirmed their exact travel activities, there are Muslim separatist militant groups in the Southern Philippines, some of which have expressed support for IS and hosted foreign militant combatants from various countries.
Although these armed groups have weakened in recent decades, investigators are looking into a possible connection.
Family members of a victim from Sunday’s shooting mourn at a flower memorial made after the shooting, at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Australian antisemitism
In general, numerous threats and instances of antisemitism have occurred in Australia in recent years, especially since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel. According to the American Jewish Committee’s timeline of antisemitism in Australia, these are some of the 2,000 antisemitic incidents Australian Jews have recently faced:
- Two days after the October 2023 Hamas attack, before Israel began its defensive war against Hamas, demonstrators marched in downtown Sydney toward the Sydney Opera House, which was illuminated with blue and white lights in honor of Jewish casualties. Many protesters chanted antisemitic remarks such as “F*** the Jews” and “Gas the Jews.”
- In May 2024, a wall outside Mount Scopus Memorial College (a modern Orthodox day school) was graffitied with the phrase, “Jew die.”
- In October 2024, the window of a popular Jewish-owned bakery in Sydney was vandalized with the inverted red triangle symbol, which is used by Hamas to mark Israeli military targets. Later that month and into November, numerous arson attacks against Jewish businesses and individuals occurred. In December, a synagogue was set on fire.
- In February 2025, two Syndey nurses faced criminal charges after making a TikTok video threatening to kill or refuse care for Jewish patients.
- On Shabbat in July this year, another Synagogue was set on fire in East Melbourne. Worshippers were inside, although no casualties ensued.
- And just days before the Bondi Beach shooting, a woman allegedly told a rabbi and his two children, “You should all go to the gas chambers,” while riding public transportation.
Unfortunately, antisemitism is not unique to Australian culture — Jewish communities in many countries fear violence like this every day, with increasing fear since the 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks. For instance, the American Jewish Committee’s 2024 Antisemitism Report says nearly six in 10 American Jews say they altered their behavior out of fear of antisemitism in 2024 and one-third say they were the target of antisemitism at least once that year.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims Australia’s choice to formally recognize Palestine as a sovereign state back in September has added fuel to the “antisemitic fire” burning in the country.
Netanyahu told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a public statement, “Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia. You did nothing to curb the cancer cells that were growing inside your country. You took no action. You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today.”
Albanese did not respond to these comments, and critics have accused Netanyahu of utilizing Sunday’s violence for political gain.
However, among the attempts at protecting the Australian Jewish community already at play, Albanese says the government will now begin covering the costs of guard services for Jewish community members, as well as extend funding for the National Council for Jewish Community Security.
Gun reform
As far as gun violence goes for Australians, events like these are rare; Australia has some of the world’s strictest gun laws.
Due to their restrictive gun laws instated after a 1996 shooting that killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, mass shootings in Australia are few and far between.
In light of this recent act of violence, which was carried out by legally acquired firearms, Albanese has promised to further strengthen laws in the country, potentially limiting who is allowed to own firearms and how many each person may have.
New laws also would require regular reviews of gun licenses and that all guns owned by Australians must be registered.