Families of the victims of the deadly attack on a Jewish holiday in Australia’s Bondi Beach earlier this month have urged a national investigation into growing anti-Semitism.
In an open letter released on Monday, 11 of the attack’s victims’ families requested that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese conduct a royal commission into the “rapid” and “dangerous” rise of anti-Jewish sentiment following Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
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When two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on December 14 and fifteen people were killed, the majority of them Jews, according to a statement released by the organization.
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, the suspected gunmen, were allegedly inspired by the ISIL (ISIS) group, according to Australian authorities.
The families wrote in their letters asking why “clear warning signs were ignored” and “how antisemitic hatred was allowed to grow dangerously unchecked.”
We have endured more than two and a half years of relentless attacks, according to the families.
Our kids experience unwelcome at the classroom and university. No longer do our places of comfort feel safe, including our homes, places of employment, sports fields, and public spaces.
The families said the government’s response to the attack, which included proposals to tighten, tighten, tighten, and introduce tougher laws against hate speech, was , was “not nearly enough,” according to the families.
According to them, “Australia’s dangerous rise of antisemitism and radicalism is not going away.”
“We require immediate strong action.” Right now, we need leadership.
Albanese announced the terms of an independent review into whether law enforcement and intelligence could have prevented the attack on Monday as a result of the calls for an investigation into anti-Semitism.
Albanese and his government colleagues have argued that a public inquiry into the attack would take years and might platform extremist voices, which would undermine social cohesion.
According to Albanese, the review, led by former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson, would look into information sharing between federal and state agencies as well as other matters.
Anti-Semitic terrorists attempted to sever our nation from ours just over two weeks ago, but Albanese remarked, “Our country is stronger than these cowards.”
“They went to Bondi Beach to murder our Jewish community in large numbers. Instead of dividing and putting off a response, we must act in unity and urgency.
In Australia, there are more anti-Jewish sentiments, as well as anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiments. One in two Australians are either born abroad or have a parent who was born overseas, raising concerns for the country’s rising rise in right-wing extremism.
In cities like Sydney, Perth, Canberra, and Brisbane, hundreds of people mobilized in September to demand the end of “mass migration.”
The rallies, which took place under the “March for Australia” banner, were “organized by Nazis,” according to Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly, who denounced the actions.
The organization behind “March for Australia” claimed on its website and social media that “mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together” and that its rallies aimed to “demand an end to mass immigration, something the majority politicians never have the courage to do: demand it.”
Since October 7, 2023, there has also been a significant rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Islamophobic incidents in Australia.
After more than 2, 060 incidents the previous year, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which supports the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, documented 1, 654 anti-Jewish incidents nationwide between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025.
Between January 1, 2023 and November 31, 2024, The Islamophobia Register Australia recorded 366 online and in-person incidents involving Islamophobia.
The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism has been used, according to numerous rights organizations, including some Jewish organizations, to equate anti-Jewish bigotry with legitimate criticism of Israel, particularly its genocidal war against Gaza.
Source: Aljazeera
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