Anti-Israel and pro-Israel activists clash in Sydney’s Bondi Beach

Anti-Israel activists and a pro-Israel counter protest clashed on Sunday in Bondi Beach, a Sydney suburb with a large Jewish Australian population.

The pro-Israel group Lions of Zion viewed the anti-Israel protest as a provocation and stated already on Friday on social media that it would not permit “hate” or “support for terror” to reach their “backyard.” Anti-Israel protesters waved Palestinian Authority flags, while pro-Israel counter protesters, both Jewish and non-Jewish, held Australian and Israeli flags. 

The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) articulated concerns that "such a protest in the heart of Sydney’s Jewish community was an unnecessary provocation."

"Bondi is home to many synagogues, Kosher restaurants and Jewish businesses, some of which have already been targeted in recent antisemitic incidents," AJA CEO Robert Gregory stated. "With more than 100 beaches across Sydney, the decision to choose Bondi was calculated to cause division and disturbance," he added.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Michele Goldman echoed similar sentiments, arguing that the anti-Israel protest at Bondi Beach was intended to be "provocative and to intimidate the Jewish community."

The New South Wales Police said they maintained a solid presence “to ensure community safety” in the area. Despite the clash, there were reportedly no injuries or arrests.

The anti-Israel activists said the beach protest was organized in support of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which departed from Barcelona with the aim of trying to breach Israel’s Gaza blockade, which has been in place in response to Hamas’s terrorism against the Jewish state. While Australia Jewish population tends to be very pro-Israel and Zionist, there is also a small but vocal minority of anti-Israel Jews. 

"The event showed there is a strong anti-Zionist Jewish voice speaking out against Israel's genocide and expansionism," Jews Against Occupation wrote on Facebook. "And a wide range of local human rights groups had endorsed and participated in this peaceful action," the anti-Israel group claimed. 

However, many locals clearly viewed the anti-Israel activists at Bondi Beach as a provocation and not as “peaceful action.” 

"They don't live here, I live here, they're terrorists, get them out of here,” a local resident told the police officers while pointing at the anti-Israel activists. 

"This is our land, we don't come to Lakemba, don't come to Bondi," another local resident said. Lakemba is another Sydney suburb, which has a large Muslim population. 

Some 100,000 Jews live in Australia, which was until recently considered a safe, culturally diverse and tolerant society. However, Australia recorded a whopping 400% increase in antisemitic incidents since the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 Israelis, according to a Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) report that was released in December 2024. 

“If anything, the raw numbers understate the seriousness of the surge in antisemitism that has occurred. There have been many new forms and expressions of anti-Jewish racism that would once have been considered alien to Australia, but which have become commonplace,” ECAJ Research Director Julie Nathan stated Jewish individuals, businesses and synagogues have been attacked across Australia. In December 2024, the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, condemned an antisemitic arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne.

However, Albanese rejected that the government is partly responsible for the rise of antisemitism due to its hostile policies against the Jewish state. The Australian government has been very critical of Israel’s self-defense military operations against the terrorist organization Hamas and announced last month that it intends to unilaterally recognize a “Palestinian state.” 

However, there are some encouraging developments in Australian society concerning antisemitism. Last month, Australia announced that it would expel the Iranian ambassador due to Tehran’s involvement in antisemitic terrorist attacks on Australian soil.