They came to kindle the first flame of Hanukkah on the golden sands of Bondi Beach. They left in body bags.

On Sunday evening, December 14, a father-and-son duo opened fire on approximately 1,000 Jews celebrating “Hanukkah by the Sea.” The attack killed at least fifteen people, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who had served the community for eighteen years; Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who escaped Hitler’s ovens only to die at a beach barbecue; and a twelve-year-old girl whose crime was believing that Australia was safe.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it “an act of pure evil.” Yet his initial statement spoke of “every person affected”—a curious circumlocution when the target was self-evidently Jews at a Jewish event on the holiest night of a Jewish holiday. The shooters, Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed, 24, were Pakistani nationals who pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Two ISIS flags were found in their vehicle, along with improvised explosive devices.

Here is what makes Bondi Beach not merely a tragedy but an indictment. Naveed Akram was known to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. ASIO examined him in 2019 for his close ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State cell, yet concluded he posed “no immediate threat.” Six years later, despite remaining on a watchlist, both father and son legally acquired six firearms under........

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