At memorial, Australian prime minister admits failure to protect Jews in Bondi Beach massacre

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that he is “profoundly sorry” for failing to prevent the antisemitic Bondi Beach massacre in Sydney last month.

“You came to celebrate a festival of light and freedom and you left with the violence of hatred. I am deeply and profoundly sorry that we could not protect your loved ones from this evil,” Albanese said at a memorial event.

Two Islamist terrorists, Sajid and Naveed Akram, a father and son, murdered at least 15 Jews during a Hanukkah celebration at the city’s iconic beach. The victims included several rabbis, a Holocaust survivor, and a 10-year-old Jewish girl. It was the deadliest mass shooting in Australia in nearly 30 years.

Players at the Australian Open tennis tournament observed a minute of silence to honor the Bondi Beach attack victims. Stadiums and buildings across Australia were also illuminated.

Buildings across the country, including cricket stadiums in Melbourne and Perth, were also illuminated, and play was paused during the Australian Open tennis tournament to observe the minute’s silence.

Following the attack on Dec. 14, Albanese said he was “sorry for what the Jewish community and our nation as a whole has experienced.” However, many Jewish Australians and relatives of the victims did not believe it was enough.

A local schoolteacher, David Barrett, praised the first responders who risked their lives to treat the wounded after the attack.

“They’re the heroes, aren’t they? The people that stepped in and put themselves in danger,” Barrett said, adding, “It’s a shame that people had to do that. But I suppose that just shows the Australian spirit that people are always willing to step in and help out.”

Australian society has changed in recent years, with a marked rise in antisemitic incidents. In December 2024, a report compiled by Julie Nathan, research director at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), documented a 400% increase in reported cases nationwide.

“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,” Nathan assessed.

The Bondi attack shocked the nation and prompted calls for tougher action on antisemitism and gun control, with critics of Albanese saying he had not done enough to crack down on a spate of attacks against the Jewish community in recent years.

Australia was long regarded as a tolerant society toward Jews and other minorities. However, reports in April 2025 indicated that antisemitic incidents had risen by 700% since the Hamas Oct. 7 attack in 2023, with most cases concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne, home to the majority of the nation's Jewish population.

Some pundits said the Bondi Beach attack would raise awareness of the societal dangers of antisemitism. Instead, anti-Jewish incidents rose by 600% in its aftermath, according to data from Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli criticized the Australian government for not doing enough to stop the antisemitic wave across the country.

"The Australian government is not doing enough to uproot the phenomenon at its source," Chikli said. He further warned that the "online incitement is part of a dangerous web of hatred that increases the threat to the Jewish community. This is a time for real and determined action.