Massacre at Bondi Beach, 16 dead during Hanukkah. "Anti-Semitic attack"

It was supposed to be a party, the one of lights. But Hannukah turned into tragedy for the Sydney Jewish community. At least two armed men opened fire on the many crowding the festival ‘Hannukah sul mare‘ in Bondi beach, a corner of paradise in Sydney. The death toll is 16 dead, including a child. Forty injured people are still in hospital. And a hero, a 43-year-old who risked his life to disarm one of the attackers.

One of the two terrorists was killed while the other ended up in handcuffs, they were father and son. One of them has a name: Naveed Akram, 24 years old, of Pakistani origin. The police, who initially had not ruled out the presence of a third attacker, announced the arrest of a man and a woman in an apartment in the city, somehow linked to the massacre. Several rudimentary explosive devices were found in the attackers’ car.

“The culprits are a 50 year old man and a 24 year old man, father and son“, said Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon. “The 50-year-old is deceased. The twenty-four year old is currently hospitalized, added the commissioner, according to whom there are no other people involved and the officers are no longer looking for a third person.
Lanyon said the 50-year-old had held a gun license for ten years and owned six separate firearms, the same amount found at the scene of the shooting. “Ballistics and forensic investigations will establish whether those six firearms are the six that were licensed to that man,” he added.

Witnesses said the two arrived around 6.40pm local time and opened fire mercilessly, including on the children. Among the victims are a Chabad rabbi named Eli Shlangerthe little pupil of a local Jewish school and an Israeli citizen. Two officers were also injured. The Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajaniexcluded the presence of Italians.

Mattarella, harsh condemnation of terrorism and anti-Semitism

“I learned with dismay the tragic news regarding the shooting at Bondi beach in Sydney. In these moments of profound sadness, on behalf of the Italian Republic, I wish to express heartfelt condolences and the utmost closeness to the families of the victims. The thoughts of all Italians, and my own, are also addressed to the wounded, to whom I wish a prompt and full recovery. Whatever the causes and responsibilities of this cowardly attack, I renew the strongest expressions of condemnation against the ignoble acts of terrorism, the repugnant manifestations and forms of anti-Semitism, any expression of fanatical violence fueled by ethnic or religious hatred”. The President of the Republic writes it Sergio Mattarella in a message sent to HE Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Trump: terrible attack, purely anti-Semitic

The Sydney attack “was a terrible attack” and “purely anti-Semitic”. The President of the United States declared it Donald Trumpduring a Christmas event at the White House. Trump also praised the “very brave person who jumped and attacked one of the shooters, saving many lives.”

Few had any doubts about the origin of the attack, starting with the prime minister Anthony Albanese: “It is an evil act of anti-Semitism and terrorism that has struck at the heart of our nation,” he immediately declared. And by King Charles III, formally head of state, who called on Australians to “stand together as always, with unity and determination”.

But this did not spare the government, and Albanese in particular, from the accusation of having somehow created fertile ground for the attack, with its recognition of the State of Palestine.
The Israeli Prime Minister is explicit Benjamin Netanyahu: “Three months ago, I wrote to the Australian Prime Minister to tell him that his policies were fueling the fires of anti-Semitism,” he explained. The Israeli ultra-right minister is very harsh Itamar Ben-Real: “The Australian government has the blood of the victims on its hands,” he said.

The FBI is cooperating in the investigation, its director said Kash Patel. Investigators have not officially revealed the nature of the attack.
The origin of the identified attacker immediately made us think of the many massacres carried out by Islamic terrorists, but no one has officially spoken out and no one seems to want to jump to hasty conclusions that could trigger further violence. Also because the memory of the two attacks, carried out by an Islamophobic neo-Nazi, which in 2019 caused 51 deaths in the mosque and Islamic center of Christchurch, in nearby New Zealand, is still alive in Australia.

The president of the Australian Zionist Federation, Jeremy Leibler, said he had learned from the Foreign Office that Iran’s possible involvement in the shooting was being investigated. Tehran, however, joined the chorus of condemnations: “Terror and the killing of human beings, wherever they are committed, are rejected and condemned”, declared the spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baqaei. The reaction of the Palestinian National Authority was also clear. “Violence, terrorism and extremism are contrary to humanitarian values ​​and moral principles,” the Foreign Ministry underlined.

While he has demonstrated values ​​and courage Ahmed al-Ahmedthe hero who, by disarming one of the attackers, prevented further deaths. In videos circulating on social media, the man takes a terrorist from behind who is shooting, jumps on him and disarms him. The attacker trips and falls. Ahmed points his rifle at him but evidently does not have the courage to fire and simply tries to attract the attention of the police while a few meters away the other terrorist continues to shoot.

According to various media reports, Ahmed is 43 years old, has two children and runs a fruit shop; he was hospitalized for gunshot wounds.
The Albanian Prime Minister paid tribute to Ahmed and the others who intervened to try to stop the terrorists. “Today we saw Australians running into danger to help others. These Australians are heroes and their courage saved lives,” he said.