Sydney: The death toll from the attack at Australia’s Bondi Beach has risen to 15, while 38 people remain in the hospital. A bystander who was caught on camera tackling the armed attacker is among those hospitalized.
The attack, declared a terrorist, targeted Jewish Australians as hundreds gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah. One of the victims was a Holocaust survivor who died while shielding his wife from bullets.
Police killed the 50-year-old father at the scene, while the 24-year-old son is in the hospital. The older man had held a recreational hunting license. Australia’s security agency had previously examined the son and assessed that there was no threat of his engaging in violence.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that the Bodi Beach shootout has links with a Pakistani terror group.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using the Bondi Beach killings to argue that foreign calls for Palestinian statehood and tolerance of pro‑Palestinian activism directly fuel antisemitic terror against Jews.
He says he warned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese months ago that such policies “encourage terrorism” and “reward Hamas” for the 7 October massacre, accuses Canberra of “doing nothing” to shut down what he calls “centres of terror,” and claims the Sydney attack proves there will be more murders if this approach continues.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he will put stricter rules, including time limits on licenses, on his Cabinet’s agenda today.
Australian police said on Monday that they expected to bring criminal charges against the gunman, hospitalized after a shooting spree in which 15 people were killed, in one of the deadliest attacks on the Jewish community in the nation’s history.
The authorities said they found evidence that the attack on Sunday at the city’s famed Bondi Beach, which they said was carried out by a father and son, was an act of terrorism targeting Sydney’s Jewish community during a Hanukkah celebration. But they declined to provide additional details, including the suspects’ ideology or exact motive.
The 50-year-old suspect arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, the home affairs minister said. In 2001, he transferred that to a partner visa and, after trips overseas, has been on a resident return visa three times.
The younger suspect first came to the attention of Australian officials in October 2019, “on the basis of being associated with others, and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” Australia’s prime minister said at a news conference on Monday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would be convening the national cabinet today to ensure there is “greater uniformity” in issues surrounding gun laws.
The prime minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, said at a news conference on Monday afternoon that it was increasing security funding for Jewish community groups across the nation.
