A father and son opened fire on a Jewish festival at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people including a child in a shooting spree authorities on Monday condemned as antisemitic “terrorism.”
The gunmen fired into crowds gathered on the beachfront on Sunday evening to mark the start of Hanukkah, sending thousands of people fleeing in panic from one of Australia’s most popular tourist spots.
Among the dead was a 10-year-old girl. At least 42 others were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds and other injuries, in what police described as Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades.
While investigations are ongoing, authorities said the attack was clearly intended to terrorise Australia’s Jewish community.
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday, after laying flowers at the Bondi Pavilion.
More than 1,000 people had gathered for the annual celebration when the attackers opened fire from a raised boardwalk overlooking the beach, which was crowded with swimmers enjoying a warm summer evening.
Armed with long-barrelled firearms, the pair fired for about 10 minutes before police shot dead the 50-year-old father. His 24-year-old son was arrested and remains under police guard in hospital with serious injuries.
Rabbi Mendel Kastel confirmed that his brother-in-law was among those killed.
“It’s unbelievable that this has happened here in Australia,” he said. “But we need to hold strong. This is not the Australia that we know. This is not the Australia that we want.”
Police declined to comment on the attackers’ religion or specific ideological motivations, citing ongoing investigations.
“We want to get to the bottom of this. We want to understand the motives behind it,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said.
Hours after the shooting, officers discovered a homemade bomb in a car parked near the beach. Police said the improvised explosive device was likely planted by the attackers.
Panic and bravery
Amid the chaos, several bystanders ran toward the danger to help others escape. Witnesses described people wading through fleeing crowds to rescue children, tend to the wounded, and even confront the gunmen.
Footage aired by local media showed a man identified as fruit seller Ahmed al Ahmed wrestling a firearm from one of the attackers as shots rang out.
Off-duty lifeguards sprinted across the sand to pull children to safety.
“They ran out under fire to clear children from the playground,” said Steven Pearce of Surf Life Saving New South Wales. “Others began CPR and dragged the injured to shelter.”
Surfboards were used as makeshift stretchers to carry bleeding victims off the beach.
French tourist Alban Baton, 23, said he hid for hours in a grocery store’s cold room. “Minute after minute, we began to realise the scale of what was happening,” he told AFP.
By Monday, a grassy hill overlooking Bondi Beach was littered with abandoned belongings—flip-flops, shoes, picnic gear—left behind as people fled. Volunteers later gathered the items and lined them up for collection.
Australia marked the tragedy by lowering flags to half-mast nationwide.
‘Oil on the fire’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Australian government of “pouring oil on the fire of antisemitism” in the months leading up to the attack.
Jewish communities across Australia have reported a surge in antisemitic incidents since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
International leaders condemned the shooting, including US President Donald Trump, who described it as a “purely antisemitic attack.”
Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people were killed—a tragedy that prompted sweeping gun law reforms. Albanese said further tightening of firearm laws may now be necessary.
Police confirmed the father legally owned six firearms, believed to have been used in the attack.
Earlier this year, Australia accused Iran of orchestrating a wave of antisemitic attacks and expelled Tehran’s ambassador. The government has linked Iran to the arson of a kosher café in Sydney in October 2024 and a synagogue fire in Melbourne in December 2024.
Iran’s foreign ministry, which has long backed Hamas, nonetheless condemned Sunday’s “violent attack in Sydney.”
The shooting comes less than a year after a knife-wielding attacker killed six people at a shopping centre near Bondi Beach in April 2024. That assailant was later found to have untreated schizophrenia, with no clear ideological motive identified.
AFP
