Australia’s government missed multiple warnings of growing antisemitism and radicalism before Sunday’s deadly terror attack on a Bondi Beach Hanukkah event — including some that came from Jewish leaders shot in the attack.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among those who slammed the administration of Australia’s lefty Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in the wake of the mass shooting on Bondi Beach that left at least 15 dead and 40 wounded, including several children.
1,000 people had gathered on the beach for a Hanukkah celebration. BACKGRID
Naveed Akram, 24, is believed to be related to his accomplice in the deadly Bondi Beach shooting. Sky News
Witnesses said the shooting happened on the beach where a Hanukkah celebration was held. APAntisemitic incidents hit a record 1,600 in 2025, according to a report from Executive Council of Australian Jewry. That’s a three-fold increase from any year before the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks.
“This is the worst fears of the Jewish community,” Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the group told Sky News. “It’s been bubbling under the surface for a long time, and now it’s actually happened.”
Albanese was one of several world leaders, along with the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who earlier this year declared his support for a Palestinian state.
“Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets,” Netanyahu said on Sunday, reading aloud from a letter he reportedly wrote to Albanese earlier this year in the wake of his declaration of support for Palestinian statehood.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits the scene of the attack on a Jewish holiday celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, December 15, 2025. REUTERS“Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent; it retreats when leaders act. I call upon you to replace weakness with action, appeasement with resolve,” Netanyahu continued.
He directly blamed Albanese for the attack.
“You did nothing to curb the cancer cells that were growing inside your country. You took no action. You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.
Beach-goers fled Bondi Beach after the gunmen opened fire. UGC/AFP via Getty Images
The shooters murdered at least 15 people with six legally-owned guns. AFP via Getty Images
One of the terrorist gunman is seen on a bridge over Bondi Beach.
Some of the strongest warnings, however, came from Jewish leaders in Australia — who later became victims of Saturday’s attack.
A prominent Jewish human rights lawyer, who survived the deadly Oct. 7 attacks before being wounded in Sunday’s shooting, had warned of growing and opening hostility to Jews and Israelis in the multicultural city of Sydney.
Arsen Ostrovsky, who chairs the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council in Sydney, spoke out on Dec. 1 after graffiti reading “F–k Zionist Israel,” and “Israel has blood on their hands,” appeared on Bondi Beach overnight.
“I never thought I would see this in Australia. Not in my lifetime. On Bondi Beach, of all places, this iconic place,” he added.
One of the victims, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in the shooting, had also written a letter to Albanese in the wake of his decision to recognize the Palestinian state.
“To Anthony Albanese, I say this with urgency – stop fueling terrorism by legitimizing those who spread hate. Listen to the voices of those who understand it firsthand,” he wrote at the time.
Australia’s Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including Bondi.
Rabbi Levi Wolff of Central Sydney Synagogue said “The inevitable has happened now. You’re always looking behind you.”
— With Post wire reports
