SYDNEY \u2014 Two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney\u2019s Bondi beach, killing 15 people, including a child, officials said Monday, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.<\/p>\n
The massacre at one of Australia\u2019s most popular beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn\u2019t suggest those and the shooting Sunday were connected. <\/p>\n
It was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.<\/p>\n
One gunman, a 50-year-old man, was fatally shot by police. The other shooter, his 24-year-old son, was wounded and was being treated at a hospital, said the Mal Lanyon, New South Wales police commissioner.<\/p>\n
Police said one gunman was known to security services, but Lanyon said authorities had no indication of a planned attack.<\/p>\n
Those killed were 10 to 87 years old, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters. At least 38 others were injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis attack was designed to target Sydney\u2019s Jewish community,\u201d New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said.<\/p>\n
The violence erupted at the end of a hot summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.<\/p>\n
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach centers around the world and sponsors public events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details.<\/p>\n
Police said emergency services were called to Campbell Parade in Bondi about 6:45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired. Video filmed by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out. Separate footage showed two men in black shirts firing with rifles from a footbridge leading to the beach, as sirens wailed and people cried out in the background.<\/p>\n
One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man\u2019s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.<\/p>\n
Minns called the unidentified man a \u201cgenuine hero.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press he was waiting for his family nearby when he heard shots. He dropped the beer he was carrying and ran.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sprinted as quickly as I could,\u201d Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes. \u201cEveryone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local resident Catherine Merchant said \u201cit was the most perfect day and then this happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was just running and there were bullets and there were so many of them and we were really scared,\u201d she told Australia\u2019s ABC News.<\/p>\n
Albanese told reporters in the capital, Canberra, that he was \u201cdevastated\u201d by the massacre.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith. An act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation,\u201d Albanese said.<\/p>\n
He vowed the violence would be met with \u201ca moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were \u201cappalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
United Nations Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said on X that he was horrified, and his \u201cheart is with the Jewish community worldwide.\u201d Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the \u201cghastly terrorist attack.\u201d<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the \u201cappalling attack.\u201d Police in London said they would step up security at Jewish sites.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that \u201cthe United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government\u2019s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.<\/p>\n
Last year, the country was rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation\u2019s Jewish population lives.<\/p>\n
Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran.<\/p>\n
Pastor Matt Graham was conducting a service at Bondi Anglican Church when panicked people began entering for shelter. He said antisemitism has been brewing in Sydney\u2019s eastern suburbs including Bondi, where the Jewish community is centered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m surrounded by antisemitic graffiti constantly. I think for our community in the east (of Sydney), and as a Christian, I just want to declare I stand with the people of Israel,\u201d Graham told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.<\/p>\n
Israel urged Australia\u2019s government to address crimes targeting Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he warned Australia\u2019s leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He said Australia\u2019s decision \u2014 in line with scores of other countries \u2014 to recognize a Palestinian state \u201cpours fuel on the antisemitic fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia… and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Australia\u2019s government should \u201cfight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms.<\/p>\n
Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014 and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.<\/p>\n
In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.<\/p>\n
Introduction to the Tragedy SYDNEY \u2014 Two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney\u2019s Bondi beach, killing 15 people, including a child, officials said Monday, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation. The massacre at one of Australia\u2019s most popular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":18710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/7HMRUHNV4NC77D62ALY4H4AQLU.jpg?auth=94ffd6d34cc6be8611be9e41da2692576d9fcaf32162b997f1582f9d3418ae89&quality=80&width=1200&height=630&smart=true","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18711,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18708\/revisions\/18711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}