Bondi shooting: Jewish community in shock over sickening Bondi Beach Hanukkah event massacre

The Jewish community at home and abroad have reacted with shock, grief and solidarity after the sickening massacre at Bondi Beach on Sunday.

Licensed gun owner Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed, 24, opened fire on “a crowded group of families” enjoying Hanukkah at Archer Park about 6.47pm.

At least 15 innocent people aged from 10 to 87 were killed, as well as the older gunman while his son is in a critical condition in hospital and expected to survive.

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Among Jewish leaders to express their condemnation for the attack was Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin.

He said the horrific event showed Jews that Australia was no longer a safe place for them.

“We’re not safe. If Jews get slaughtered on Bondi Beach and body bags are piling up at this place, we’re not safe,” he said.

Mr Ryvchin was critical of the Australian Government for not acting on a 15-point plan his organisation presented after the December 2024 Adass Israel attack, which he labelled a “blueprint” to “defeat” anti-Semitism.

“There is evil among us and if we don’t rip it out by the root …. we’re going to go down a darker and darker path,” he said, adding that anti-Semitism in Australia had reached “a crisis of a new magnitude”.

The Prime Minister’s special envoy for anti-Semitism Jillian Segal described the attack as “pure evil” and an act Australia “cannot accept”.

“It’s not random thoughts, it’s true anti-Semitism, which is the Australia that we cannot accept,” she said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley claimed “anti-Semitism in Australia has been left to fester” by the Albanese Government and called for immediately action on the recommendations of a report Ms Segal’s released in July to combat the issue.

Ms Segal’s 20-page plan included 49 actions across 13 areas — including better education, a report-card system for the university sector, and training Border Force to spot and deport people engaging in anti-Semitism.

The report also called for increase in transparency around social media algorithms, monitoring of media organisations representations of Jews and strengthening hate crime legislation.

In a statement, Ms Segal said that Australia’s response should now be on par with that of the Howard government to the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.

“This pure evil is anti-Semitism,” she said. “Death has reached Bondi Beach. It’s not random,” she told ABC Radio, saying she hoped “new energy” would now be delivered to acting on her plan.

“I’m sure the Government’s initial reaction will be to look at security. I have laid out a blueprint in my plan. This is a long-term strategy that I have laid out. We’ve been making progress.”

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip was scathing of Australia’s response to anti-Semitic rhetoric that he claimed had run riot since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack that sparked conflict in Gaza.

Speaking at a press conference in Bondi on Monday, he said that the 15 innocent lives who were gunned down should have been enjoying Hanukkah on a “carefree and tranquil summer’s evening”.

“What we’ve seen has been the logical progression, demonising Jews with rhetoric, which slowly builds up to acts of violence,” he said.

“And the acts of violence which last night took lives.

“For two years people have paraded in our streets and universities calling for the intifada to be globalised, a catchphrase which means ‘kill Jews wherever you find them’.

“Last night, the intifada was globalised and came to Bondi.

“Two years ago, on the forecourt of the Opera House antisemites chanted ‘f**k the Jews’ and ‘where are the Jews?’. Sadly, last night, they found the Jews.

“The time for talk is over. We need action.”

The Australian Jewish Association also criticised the Government’s failure to stem the rising tide of anti-Semitic behaviour in Australia in the lead up to the attack.

“The Albanese Government was warned so many times but failed to take adequate actions to protect the Jewish community,” chief executive officer Robert Gregory said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has labelled the massacre — which is Australia’s worse since Port Arthur in 1996 — as “evil unleashed” on home soil and “beyond anyone’s worst nightmare”.

He issued a message to Australia’s Jewish community saying that “there is no place for hate” in our nation and vowing “we will eradicate it”.

“As Prime Minister, I say on behalf of all Australians to the Jewish community, we stand with you, we embrace you, and we reaffirm tonight that you have every right to be proud of who you are and what you believe,” he said.

“You have the right to worship and study and live and work in peace and safety and you enrich us as a nation.

“You should never have to endure the loss that you have suffered.”

During his late-night press conference in Canberra on Sunday after convening a special meeting of the National Security Committee, the PM was asked if the Government would act on the outstanding recommendations made by Ms Segal this year.

“We’re continuing to work on all of those issues including one of the things that you’ll see is a request that had previously been made to be included in additional funding for security,” Mr Albanese said.

He was then asked: “Have you taken the threat of anti-Semitism seriously?“.

Mr Albanese replied: “Yes, we have taken it seriously and we’ve continued to act.

“We’ve continued to work with Jewish community leaders. We’ve continued to take all the advice from the security agencies to put in place special measures — and will continue to do so.”