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Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a wide-ranging national inquiry into antisemitism, weeks after two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish holiday event at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people. The investigation will be a royal commission, which is the most significant type of independent public inquiry that can be held in Australia. It will be led by former High Court judge Virginia Bell, Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. The inquiry will investigate the nature, prevalence and drivers of antisemitism generally, as well as the circumstances of the Bondi mass shooting, Albanese said. It will also make recommendations for law enforcement, strengthening social cohesion and countering the spread of extremism. A report is due by December 14, which will be a year to the day since the shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at the Sydney landmark. This was an antisemitic terrorist attack, aimed at Jewish Australians, inspired by ISIS, the deadliest that has ever occur
Families of victims of the recent Sydney massacre that targeted a Jewish festival released an open letter on Monday calling for more federal action to investigate a rise in antisemitism and the security failures behind Australia's worst mass shooting in three decades. Two gunmen are accused of shooting 15 people dead and wounding another 40 in an attack on a Hannukah festival on Bondi Beach on Dec. 14. In an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, 17 families of the dead and wounded called for a federal inquiry known as a royal commission to investigate a rise in antisemitism in Australia since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023 and consequent security agency failures. Royal commissions are the most powerful form of public investigation in Australia and witnesses can be jailed for deliberately withholding evidence. We need to know why clear warning signs were ignored, how antisemitic hatred and Islamic extremism were allowed to dangerously grow unchecked, and what changes m
Days after Australia issued an advisory against counterfeit rabies vaccine in India, a public sector manufacturer of the vaccine 'Abhayrab' clarified that the concern revolves around a specific batch identified in January 2025, and did not merit a blanket warning against it. The vaccine manufacturer, the Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), said the advisory in its present form has the potential to create anxiety and mistrust among the public and healthcare practitioners. It asked the Australian government to consider reviewing its advisory. Around a week ago, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) said Australian travellers who have been administered the anti-rabies vaccine Abhayrab in India after November 1, 2023, should consider the vaccination invalid and initiate a new course of vaccination. The IIL has written to ATAGI, strongly refuting the "over-cautionary and misplaced reference" to a batch of vaccine manufactured in March 2024, and said it had ...
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans Thursday for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted the worst of evil during an antisemitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation's holiday season. Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harms way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram are accused of perpetrating Australia's worst massacre since 1996. Speaking at a press conference after a Christmas Day lunch at a charitable foundation in Sydney, Albanese described a Christmas defined by a sharp contrast between extremist violence and the best of humanity. This Christmas is a different one because of th
A suspected gunman accused of killing 15 people at Sydney's Bondi Beach conducted firearms training in an area of New South Wales outside of Sydney with his father and recorded a video about their justification for the attack, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday, citing police documents. The police statement of facts was made public following Naveed Akram's video court appearance Monday from a Sydney hospital. The statement alleges the 24-year-old and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, threw four improvised explosive devices toward at crowd involved in a Jewish event at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, but they didn't explode, ABC reported. The New South Wales court media unit could not immediately provide a copy of the statement. Police shot the father dead at the scene and wounded the son. The son was charged last week with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act.
A suspected gunman in Sydney's Bondi Beach massacre was charged with 59 offences, including 15 charges of murder, police said Tuesday. The 24-year-old man was charged in Sydney hospital on Wednesday, where he has been since police shot him and his gunman father at Bondi on Sunday. The 50-year-old father died at the scene, a police official said. The charges include one count of murder for each victim who died and one count of committing a terrorist act.
Sajid Akram, one of the suspects in the recent mass shooting at Bondi beach in Australia, is a native of Hyderabad, the Telangana Police said on Tuesday. He migrated to Australia 27 years ago and had limited contact with his family in Hyderabad, the Telangana DGP office said in a statement. The factors that led to radicalisation of Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram appear to have no connection with India or any local influence in Telangana, it said. Sajid Akram completed his B.Com in Hyderabad and migrated to Australia in search of employment in November 1998, it said.