On December 14, two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah festival at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Two armed assailants opened fire during a large “Chanukah by the Sea” celebration marking the first night of Hanukkah, killing at least 16 people and wounding 40, including two police officers, according to local authorities.
Footage of the attack shows two gunmen dressed in black firing at people at the ceremony. The attackers unleashed sustained gunfire into a crowd of roughly 1,000 attendees, prompting widespread panic and chaos before being engaged by responding police officers. One attacker was killed at the scene, and the second was critically injured and taken into custody. Police also discovered and safely removed suspected improvised explosive devices from a vehicle that was linked to the incident.
Australian authorities declared the assault a terrorist incident motivated by antisemitism, noting that one of the suspects was previously known to the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) but had not been assessed as an imminent threat before the attack.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, citing a senior law enforcement official, reported that one of the gunmen was identified as Naveed Akram, a Sydney resident who was from the “city’s southwest.” The official added that Akram’s home in the Bonnyrigg suburb had been raided by law enforcement on Sunday evening.
The attack represents one of Australia’s deadliest mass shootings since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre and has triggered swift and widespread condemnation. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the violence as an “act of evil antisemitism,” underscoring the deliberate targeting of the Jewish community on a significant religious holiday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented that he had warned Albanese in an August letter that Albanese’s government policies were “adding fuel to the fire of antisemitism on the streets.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli authorities are investigating whether the Iranian government or its proxies played a role in the deadly shooting. Israeli intelligence services had previously warned that Tehran is targeting Jewish communities abroad through various means, including weapon smuggling and social media cells used to incite violence, and they are now examining whether those networks had a part in facilitating or inspiring the attack.
On August 26, the Australian government announced the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador and three diplomatic officials after the ASIO concluded that the Iranian government had directed antisemitic attacks on Australian soil. ASIO’s assessment linked Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to at least two violent incidents in Sydney and Melbourne in 2024. As part of Canberra’s response, it suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran and signaled pending legislation to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, underscoring the severity with which Australian officials viewed Tehran’s covert interference and its impact on domestic security.
In September, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) issued an assessment urging Israelis and Jews traveling abroad to maintain vigilance ahead of major holidays, specifically citing Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups, which are all considered to be highly motivated to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets globally. The NSC’s report warned that Iran continued to be the main supporter of terrorism against Israelis and Jews, both directly and through its network of armed groups.
