In the Media

Sky News – 15 December 2025

There are no words that can adequately describe the horrific events of last night’s shooting at Bondi Beach. It is a moment that has torn our souls and left our hearts in tatters. The targeted attack on Australian Jews at a Chanukah event will go down as the darkest day in the history of Australian Jews. But it will also go down as one of the darkest days in the history of Australia itself.

At least 15 people were murdered and many more injured while celebrating a Jewish festival at one of Australia’s most iconic sites, Bondi Beach. It is a place known throughout the world as a symbol of Australian life – carefree and easy-going. But that image is now gone, shattered and stained with a mark of death that will not easily be erased.

And perhaps the most sobering and devastating fact of all is that, once again, this was not a surprise. For months and years now, the Jewish community has been warning the authorities, pleading and begging for action against the rising tide of antisemitism and extremism that has been sweeping through this nation. That antisemitism exploded after the horrific attacks of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists launched an unprovoked assault on Israel, murdering 1,200 innocent people and kidnapping more than 250 others. It was further displayed just two days later at the Sydney Opera House when Jews were targeted with hateful and threatening language during a celebration of the massacre.

Since then, we have seen these chants of Jew hatred evolve into graffiti on Jewish businesses. We have seen vandalism and destruction of Jewish property become attacks on Jewish synagogues. And we have seen years of physical violence and intimidation of Jews, especially at so-called pro-Palestinian rallies, go largely unchecked, allowing incitement to flourish.

It is why many commentators say that the Australia of the last couple of years is not the same Australia they’ve always known. Something is broken. And it is as clear as a Sydney sunset on a perfect summer’s day.

The failure of the Australian Federal Government, along with authorities around the country, to take the Jewish community’s concerns seriously – a community that have been witnessing in real time the increasing danger of this hatred – has contributed to the radicalism that has led to this murderous terror attack on Australian soil.

The Government even failed to act on the recommendations of its own appointed Antisemitism Envoy.

These constant failures are why many in the Australian Jewish community have felt abandoned and isolated over the past two years. This has only intensified, especially as the Australian government adopted a highly critical and unfair approach to Israel as it fought against the same type of terror forces that we saw in Bondi.

And the parallels with October 7 cannot be ignored. Just as Jews were murdered celebrating a Jewish festival, so were Israelis murdered also celebrating a Jewish holiday.

This is an attack that Australian Jews will feel very personally. Many of the victims are known to us. Even my own parents were at the festival but left shortly before the attack started. Adding to the tragedy of this attack is that a number of the victims were elderly, unable to flee as the attackers carried out their violence.

But this is also an attack on Australia itself, an attack on our entire way of life. The scenes we witnessed are not dissimilar to those seen in terror attacks across France, Belgium, Germany or the United States. Distance is no longer a protection. The vast oceans between us and the rest of the world no longer shield us. The violent ideology that has plagued other parts of the world is now well and truly entrenched here too.

This is exactly what “Globalise the Intifada” looks like. It is not a call for peace or freedom, but a call for violence and oppression. It does not end with people singing songs of coexistence and then going home; it ends with bullet-ridden bodies lying on a beachfront that will never go home.

Last night Jews around the world celebrated Chanukah, which is a festival going back 2200 years. It commemorates the time when the Maccabees rose up against their oppressors, the Seleucid Empire, a Hellenistic Greek kingdom that ruled Judea at the time and sought to suppress Jewish life. But the Jews revolted, refusing to allow their identity to be erased, and miraculously they succeeded in beating the far superior forces they faced.

Today Jews are once again fighting those who wish to suppress our identity, to sow fear in our community, to prevent us from practising and celebrating our faith. Because that’s what these attacks are designed to do here and around the world.

The Jewish community is hurting right now. But lighting that first candle last night—and for the next seven nights—is an act of defiance and solidarity, a reminder that our identity will not be erased or suppressed, but proudly celebrated, even in the darkest of times.