Terrorist attack
Commemoration on Bondi Beach – demand for clarification
Updated 12/21/2025 – 4:52 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
Candles, silence, applause and boos: Thousands of people mourn the victims of the attack on the beach in Sydney. What the Jewish community and Australian politics are now demanding.
Thousands of people on Bondi Beach remembered the 15 people who died in the terrorist attack on a Jewish festival on the famous Sydney beach a week ago. The evening (local time) event of the Jewish community in the Australian state of New South Wales began with a minute’s silence. When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was welcomed alongside other guests, the applause was mixed with angry boos.
The Australian head of government had been accused by representatives of the Jewish community and the opposition of not having done enough to protect Jews in the wake of increasing anti-Semitism in the country. On Sunday, in response to the attack, he announced that the work of the secret services and law enforcement agencies would be reviewed.
In Australia there were nationwide vigils for the victims of the attack, as the local broadcaster ABC reported. The public was called upon to light a candle for the victims and pause for a minute’s silence at 6:47 p.m. (Sydney time/08:47 CET) – the time the first shots were fired on Bondi Beach. Sunday was the last day of the Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah. The flags in Australia flew at half-mast.
Two assassins – a father and his son – shot at a celebrating crowd a week ago during the Jewish festival. The father was shot by police and the son was taken to hospital with life-threatening gunshot wounds. The Australian authorities spoke of an anti-Semitic act of terrorism. They assume that the perpetrators were influenced by the ideology of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS).
The youngest victim was a ten-year-old girl. The oldest was 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman. According to local health authorities, 13 people who were injured in the attack were still in hospital as of evening (local time).
Armed security forces reportedly patrolled the beach for Sunday’s event on Bondi Beach, at which politicians and representatives of Jewish organizations, among others, gave speeches. New South Wales Jewish Community Deputies Chairman David Ossip expressed support for government plans to set up a commission of experts to investigate the attack. Such a commission is necessary “to find out how this catastrophe happened.”
Israeli President Izchak Herzog called for a global fight against anti-Semitism. “The global rise in hatred of Jews is a global emergency,” Herzog said at a memorial service in Jerusalem for the 15 deaths in Australia. During the event there was a live link to the meeting in Sydney. “I want to say to the Jews of Australia: The people of Israel stand with you,” said Herzog.
