Jewish communities across the world have reacted with shock, sadness and solidarity after what Australia’s prime minister described as a “targeted attack on Jewish Australians” at Bondi beach in Sydney.
On Sunday, as hundreds of people were gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukah, the Jewish festival of lights, at least two individuals armed with guns began firing on crowds on the beach. At least 11 people were killed and 29 injured in what police designated as a terrorist attack. One of the alleged gunman was also killed, bringing the total number of dead to 12.
Alex Ryvchin, of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said in a statement: “I think this was very deliberate and very targeted.”
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council said it was “horrified” by what had taken place. “We have warned for years that the unceasing antisemitic vitriol on our streets would evolve into antisemitic violence if left unchecked. We have warned that verbal abuse becomes graffiti, becomes arson, becomes physical violence, becomes murder,” its executive director, Colin Rubenstein, said in a statement.
He added: “This is not just a terrible day for the Jewish community, for Bondi, and for Sydney but for all of Australia, and for the values we hold dear, that are the bedrock of what for so long has been our inclusive, harmonious society,” he added.
The sentiment was echoed by Jillian Segal, the federal government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism in Australia. “What once seemed distant or uncomfortable can no longer be ignored,” Segal said in a statement. “Taunts from the Opera House steps, synagogues set alight and now massacres at a celebration form a clear pattern. This is not the Australia we know and it cannot be the Australia we accept.”
In July, Segal said reports of antisemitic incidents had surged after the attack by Hamas-led militants on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, and Israel’s military response in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,700 people.
A spate of incidents, including arson attacks on synagogues and a childcare centre, rocked the Jewish community in late 2024 and early 2025. Australia’s prime minister in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran.
On Sunday, Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, urged Australia’s government to do more to protect Jewish people in Australia. “The heart of the entire nation of Israel misses a beat at this very moment,” he said. “We repeat our alerts time and time again to the Australian government to seek action and fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.”
Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the Jewish community would have every resource it needed.
“I say on behalf of all Australians to the Jewish community, we stand with you,” he said. “We embrace you and we reaffirm tonight that you have every right to be proud of who you are and what you believe … There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation. Let me be clear: we will eradicate it.”
In neighbouring New Zealand, the Jewish Council said it was “utterly sickened and horrified” by the mass shooting. “We do not know all the details, but we are haunted by the scenes we have seen, in a place familiar to and loved by so many of us,” it said. “We are in shock, and we pray for the innocent victims of this atrocity.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it had been in touch with members of the Jewish community in Australia to express its solidarity and offer support. “The scourges of terrorism and antisemitism are shared, international challenges and need concerted and determined action to defeat them,” it said in a statement.
The leader of the Green party of England and Wales, Zack Polanski, said he was on his way to a Hanukah event on Sunday. “It should be a celebration but instead our community is once again mourning,” he wrote on social media. “I will be thinking of everyone in Australia and those around the world in the Jewish Community who know this fear and loss. We stand with you.”
The European Jewish Congress said it was “appalled and shocked” by the attack. “It is unconscionable that Jewish families gathering to celebrate a joyous event in one of the most multicultural cities in the world should be slaughtered in cold blood by terrorists,” the group’s president, Moshe Kantor, said in a statement.
The Conference of European Rabbis, an Orthodox rabbinical alliance, said the organisation was devastated by the attack. “We mourn with the Jewish community of Sydney and with the families mourning loved ones murdered in cold blood simply for being Jews,” said its president, Pinchas Goldschmidt. “A festival of light was shattered by terror.”
