Bondi Beach attack seems driven by ‘Islamic State ideology’
Australia’s prime minister said the killing of 15 people at a Jewish Hannukah festival appeared “motivated by Islamic State ideology.”
The Sydney Opera House illuminated with a Jewish menorah December 15, 2025.
A Hanukkah menorah is projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House in memory of the victims of a shooting at Bondi Beach
No evidence that the two gunmen, a father and son, belonged to a terrorist cell
But they appear to have been by radical Islamist ideology, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said
People continue to pay tribute to the victims at Bondi Beach
Sydney Opera House lit up with menorah candles on second day of Hanukkah
The two Bondi beach shooters appeared to be driven by “Islamic State ideology” when they opened fire on Sunday evening, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.Fifteen people were killed when two gunmen targeted Jewish people attending a Hanukkah event – the victims include a 10-year-old girl, a British-born rabbi, a retired police officer, and a Holocaust survivor – what we know about them so far
Six people remain in critical condition in hospital, another four are critical but stable, New South Wales Health says
At Bondi, mourners are coming to lay flowers along the railing overlooking the beach – the mood is still very subdued, writes our correspondent
Jewish Australians tell the BBC the rise in antisemitism made Sunday’s attack predictable – “I’ve grown up in fear,” Jess, 22, says
Speaking as people continued to lay flowers at the Bondi Pavillion, the co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, tells the BBC of his “grief at lost friends and lost way of life”.
“The way that we’ve lived here as a Jewish community for generations, very freely, very openly, meeting in places like this to mark our festival days, bringing our children – I think that’s done for now. I think that’s finished,” he says.
He says he feels that the “bad guys have won…I think we have to be honest about that. They came to slaughter Jews, and they were extremely successful in their enterprise.
“We came to live, to celebrate our Jewishness, to celebrate being Australians, and we failed in that.”
As the community continues to process what happened, their emotions are changing from “shock and disbelief” to “real anger”, he says.
“I think we need to understand that something has changed forever in this country.”
