Opinion |
December 14, 2025


SYDNEY, Australia. —This Sunday, two armed men They killed at least 11 people during the celebration of a jewish holiday in the sydney bondi beachreported the Australian authorities, who described the event as terrorist attack. One armed man was killed by police and the second was arrested.

The massacre on one of Australia’s most popular and iconic beaches followed a wave of anti-Semitic attacks that have rocked the country over the past year, although authorities did not suggest those episodes and Sunday’s shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting in nearly three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.

Reaction of the authorities

An armed man was killed by the police and the second, who was arrestedwas in critical condition, they reported. Police stated that one of the gunmen was known to the security services, but that there had been no specific threat.

29 people were injured

At least 29 people were injuredincluding two police officers, said Mal Landpolice commissioner of the state of New South Waleswhere Sydney is located.

Police noted that their operation was “ongoing” and that “several suspicious objects” were being examined by specialist officers, including several improvised explosive devices found in the car of one of the suspects.

Attack on a Jewish celebration

“This attack was designed to attack the Jewish community of Sydney,” declared the state’s premier, Chris Remembers. The massacre was declared a terrorist attack due to the target event and the weapons used, Lanyon said.

The violence broke out at the end of a hot summer day when thousands of people had come to the bondi beachincluding hundreds who had gathered for an event called Hanukkah by the Seawhich celebrated the beginning of the jewish festival of hanukkah.

Rabbi Eli Schlanger passes away

Chabadan Orthodox Jewish movement known for its outreach to non-religious Jews, identified one of the deceased as the rabino Eli Schwerterassistant rabbi of Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event.

He Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but did not provide further details.

The police maintained that the emergency services received a notice to go to Campbell Parade around 6:45 p.m. for reports of shots fired.

They disarm one of the attackers

Video footage filmed by onlookers showed people in swimsuits running from the water as gunshots rang out. A dramatic clip apparently filmed by a member of the public and broadcast on Australian television channels showed someone appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the gun he had taken from him, then placing the weapon on the ground.

Minns called the man a “true hero”.

They flee and hide while the shots ring out

Lachlan Moran, 32-year-old, from Melbourne, was waiting for his family nearby when he heard gunshots, he said. He dropped the beer he was carrying for his brother and ran.

“Some shots were heard, and I got scared and ran away. (…) I started running. I just had that intuition. I ran as fast as I could,” Moran said. He said he heard intermittent gunshots for about five minutes.

“Everyone just dropped all their belongings and everything and ran and people were crying and it was just horrible,” Moran said.

The local resident Catherine Merchant He commented that “it was the most perfect day and then this happened.”

“Everyone was just running and there were bullets and there were so many of them and we were really scared,” he told Australia’s ABC News.

Australian leaders speak of shock and pain; World leaders condemn the attack.

The prime minister Anthony Albanese He expressed himself “devastated” by the massacre.

“This is an attack aimed at Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith. An act of evil, anti-Semitism, terrorism that has struck at the heart of our nation,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

He promised that the violence will be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians from all walks of life will embrace their fellow Australians of the Jewish faith”.

Condolences from King Charles III and Queen Camilla

King Charles III declared that he and Queen Camilla were “horrified and saddened by the most terrible anti-Semitic terrorist attack.”

The secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterressaid in X that he was horrified, and that his “heart goes out to the Jewish community around the world.”

He indian prime minister Narendra Modi condemned the “horrendous terrorist attack.”

He British Prime Minister Keir Starmer He indicated that he was being informed about the “atrocious attack.” Police in London declared they would increase security at Jewish sites.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish holiday. Anti-Semitism has no place in this world.”

Anti-Semitic attacks have shaken Australia

Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Anti-Semitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, tripled in the country in the year after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Jillian Segal, the government’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, reported in July.

Over the past summer, the country was rocked by a series of anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were burned, businesses and homes were graffitied and Jews were attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population lives.

Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties with Tehran. Authorities made no such claims about Sunday’s massacre.

Israel urged the Australian government to address crimes targeting Jews. The prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu He said he warned Australia’s leaders months ago in a letter about the dangers of failing to take action against anti-Semitism. He said Australia’s decision – in line with dozens of other countries – to recognize a Palestinian state “adds fuel to the anti-Semitic fire”.

“His government did nothing to stop the spread of anti-Semitism in Australia… and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews that we saw today,” Netanyahu said.

The Israeli president Isaac Herzog He stated that the Australian government should “fight the enormous wave of anti-Semitism that is plaguing Australian society.”

Australia shooting deaths rare

Deaths from mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a single gunman killed 35 people, led the government to dramatically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms.

Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides killing five people in 2014, and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed themselves and their own families.

In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists on a rural property in the state of Queensland.

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