Two shooters, father and son, killed at least 15 people in a mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday, according to authorities. At least 42 people were hospitalized.
The older shooter, 50 years old, was shot and killed by police, authorities said. His 24-year-old son was injured and remains hospitalized.
“We are satisfied that there were two perpetrators involved,” said New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon in an update on Monday morning. “We are not looking for any further perpetrators.”
Among the dead are a 10-year-old child and a 40-year-old man who died in the hospital, according to New South Wales Police (NWS).
The attack occurred around 6:45 p.m. local time on Sunday, when emergency services were called to the beach after reports of gunfire, NWS police also said.
Two police officers were also injured with gunshot wounds, NSW police said. Hundreds of people had gathered at the popular beach for Chanukah by the Sea, an event celebrating the start of Hanukkah, the annual Jewish festival.
Two basic improvised explosive devices were found at the scene and were “active,” Lanyon said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Sunday’s shooting a “targeted attack against Australian Jews” and a “terrorist incident”.
“An attack on Australian Jews is an attack on every Australian,” Albanese said in a statement posted on social media. “There is no place for this hate, violence, and terrorism in our nation. Let me be clear. We will eradicate it.”
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that organizes events around the world, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Bondi Chabad and one of the main organizers of the event.
Video footage recorded by bystanders appeared to show two shooters with long guns firing from a walkway leading to the beach. A clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man apparently tackling and disarming one of the shooters.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, largely due to the country’s strict gun control laws. The country implemented some of the world’s strictest gun laws after its worst mass shooting in 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people at a cafe and tourist site in Port Arthur, Tasmania.
The attack is the first deadly mass shooting in Australia since 2022, when six people, including two police officers, were shot in an alleged ambush on a property while officers responded to a missing person report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Australia’s prime minister for the Sydney attack on Sunday, accusing him of doing nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism during the Gaza war.
In statements in English at a government meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said he wrote to Albanese in August, arguing that Australia’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state encouraged “hatred of Jews.” Australia and other major Western countries recognized a Palestinian state in September.
“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia,” Netanyahu said. “You took no action. You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks against Jews that we saw today.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he spoke with Australia’s foreign minister, expressing Israel’s “pain and sorrow” over the attack, and arguing that there had been a “rise in antisemitism in Australia” since the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023.
There has been an increase in antisemitic attacks in Australia in recent years, including arson attacks. In August, Albanese blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties with Tehran.
UN chief Antônio Guterres called the shooting “a heinous deadly attack against Jewish families.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the country had repeatedly asked Australia to take action against a “huge wave of antisemitism”.
Spectator Hailed as Hero for Disarming Shooter in Sydney
A man who disarmed one of the shooters in the deadly attack on Bondi Beach in Sydney is being praised for his heroic efforts and for saving lives.
A clip broadcast on Australian television and shared on social media shows an unarmed man approaching one of the alleged shooters from behind, who was firing a long gun, and then grabbing him by the neck. The civilian appears to wrestle and disarm the shooter, who falls to the ground before backing away. The man then points the gun at the alleged shooter and then raises his hand in the air.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns praised the man’s actions on Sunday, calling it “the most unbelievable scene” he had ever seen.
“A man approaching a shooter who had shot at the community, and disarming him alone, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless others — this man is a genuine hero,” Minns said during a press conference. “And I have no doubt that many, many people are alive tonight thanks to his bravery.”
The man hailed for his bravery was identified by several news reports as Ahmed al Ahmed, 43, owner of a fruit shop. The NPR did not independently verify the man’s identity. A relative of the man told Australia’s 7News that Ahmed was shot twice and is in the hospital.
The shooters killed at least 15 people in the mass shooting during the Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, according to authorities. At least 42 people were hospitalized.
Other video footage recorded by bystanders and posted on social media appeared to show two shooters with long guns firing from a walkway leading to the beach.
Source: npr.org by Chandelis Duster, Adam Hancock & Daniel Estrin