10,000-strong crowd gathers on Bondi Beach to mark week since Hanukkah terror attack |
Thousands of Australians, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, gathered at the famous Bondi Beach on Sunday to honor the victims of a terror attack a week earlier that targeted a seaside Jewish Hanukkah festival event.
The nation held a day of reflection on Sunday to honor the 15 people killed and the dozens wounded in the attack by two gunmen. With security tight and flags at half-staff on government buildings, a minute of silence was held at 6:47 p.m. (9:47 a.m. Israel time), the time the attack began.
Television and radio networks paused for a minute’s silence.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended the event, where he was booed by angry attendees. Many have accused him of failing to protect the Jewish community against antisemitic hate crimes.
Albanese, his predecessors John Howard and Scott Morrison, and Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who represents Australia’s head of state King Charles III, were among the dignitaries at the commemoration that drew more than 10,000 people.
Albanese was booed by the crowd and met with cries of “shame” on arrival and again later when the speaker mentioned his name during the memorial. He sat in the front row wearing a kippah, the traditional male Jewish head covering.
Albanese, under pressure from critics who say his center-left government has not done enough to curb a surge in antisemitism since the start of the war in Gaza, was not scheduled to speak at the event.
Opposition leader Sussan Ley, who had said that a conservative government led by her would reverse a decision made by Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government this year to recognize a Palestinian state, was cheered.
Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have sought to link the Bondi Beach terror attack to Albanese’s recognition of Palestinian statehood.
#Albanese booed and heckled. Certainly not welcome.
He got the reception he deserves at the vigil at Bondi.@AlboMP pic.twitter.com/yaYBx9ZlxI
— Radio Australis (@freedom4UU) December 21, 2025
The Australian government has rejected the claim, and has said it has consistently denounced antisemitism over the last two years and passed legislation to criminalize hate speech. It expelled the Iranian ambassador earlier this year after accusing Tehran of directing two antisemitic arson attacks. Advertisement
Hero who disarmed gunman: ‘I stand with you’
Speaking to the crowd, local Jewish leader David Ossip read a message from Ahmed al Ahmed, the bystander who rushed to disarm one of the gunmen during the........