Bondi Beach attack spurs worldwide mourning and calls for tougher gun laws

By Ainslie Chandler

 

Vigils in Australia and across the world have marked the Bondi Beach massacre of Jews celebrating Hanukkah, an attack that’s fueled pressure for tougher gun laws and mounting anger within the Jewish community. 

The Sydney Opera House was illuminated with a giant image of a Hanukkah menorah on Monday evening as thousands gathered in Bondi Beach to mourn the 15 victims that included a Holocaust survivor and a 10 year-old child. In the city’s Hyde Park, Jewish community leaders stood with Muslim and Indigenous peers in a vigil organized by the First Nations community. 

Emotions in Sydney, however, were mixed with mounting anger as members of the Jewish community accused the government of failing to halt a rising tide of antisemitism, following a two-year surge in such incidents. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday rejected criticism of his handling of escalating attacks, while urging Australians to rally around the Jewish community.

 

In London, mourners gathered at Parliament Square to remember the victims of the attack, as major cities around the world ramp up security for Hanukkah. Similar gatherings had also taken place in cities including New York and Berlin. Hanukkah events and vigils took place in central Melbourne on Monday evening, with landmarks lit up to commemorate the Bondi victims.

 

Australian Broadcasting Corp., citing law-enforcement sources, identified the attackers as 24-year-old Naveed Akram and his father Sajid, 50. The father, who died at the scene, arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1998, authorities confirmed without naming him. The son — an Australian-born citizen once investigated by domestic intelligence agency ASIO in 2019 — remains in a coma. 

Victims of the shooting ranged from 10 years old to 87. Twenty-five people remain in hospital, New South Wales Health said early Tuesday.

 

Blood banks in Sydney and Melbourne saw lines around the block on Monday, with reports of booking websites crashing, after a callout for donations to support shooting victims drew an overwhelming response.

 

Gun Control 

Albanese convened an urgent meeting of Australia’s National Cabinet on Monday, where he asked police ministers and attorneys-general to explore tighter gun control laws. Options included caps on the number of firearms an individual can hold, stricter rules on the permitted gun types and a requirement that license holders be Australian citizens.

 

As an immediate priority, the government will begin work on additional customs restrictions for firearms and other weapons-type imports, including 3-D printing and novel technology, and firearms equipment that can hold large amounts of ammunition.

 

Albanese said ministers had pledged to stamp out antisemitism, hate, violence and terrorism. The country saw a record 1,045 such incidents in 2024, up 26 per cent from the previous year and more than double the average annual tally from 2018 to 2022, according to a report by Community Security Group, a Jewish not-for-profit organization. 

 

Antisemitism is “an evil that needs to be eradicated,” Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said at Bondi Beach on Monday. “Everything must change from today.”