A terrorist shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens during the first night of the Jewish holiday, according to Australian authorities and multiple news outlets. A bystander tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen, an act officials and world leaders say likely saved lives. The attack has been widely described as antisemitic amid a sharp rise in anti-Jewish incidents in Australia since late 2023.
On Sunday, December 14, 2025, gunmen opened fire near the “Chanukah by the Sea 2025” event at Bondi Beach in Sydney, where hundreds of people — and, by some accounts, over 1,000 — had gathered to mark the first night of Hanukkah.
Australian officials initially reported at least 11 people killed and 29 injured, including at least two police officers, with the death toll later rising to 15 and then 16 in some reports. Dozens of victims remain hospitalized. The New South Wales government has declared the incident a terrorist attack and said the shooting was designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community.
Authorities say at least two gunmen were involved. One attacker was shot dead by police at the scene, while a second was shot, wounded and taken into custody in critical condition, according to Australian police statements cited by Associated Press and public broadcasters. Police are investigating whether any additional accomplices were involved, but as of the latest official briefings have not confirmed a third active shooter.
State and federal officials say improvised explosive devices linked to the suspects were recovered. New South Wales Police reported that suspected explosive devices were found in a vehicle connected to one of the gunmen and safely removed. Local media, including news.com.au, also reported that at least two pipe bombs thrown during the attack failed to detonate.
One of the alleged shooters has been publicly identified by Australian media as Naveed Akram, a Sydney resident from the city’s southwest. Outlets including ABC News Australia and The Times of London have reported that Akram was taken to hospital under police guard. Some reports identify the two suspects as a father and son, Sajid and Naveed Akram.
Dramatic video footage from the scene shows a man tackling one of the attackers from behind a car, wrestling away his long gun and briefly pointing it back at the assailant before placing the weapon on the ground. The man has been identified in Daily Wire reporting and other outlets as 43-year-old Ahmed al‑Ahmed, a Muslim father of two and a local fruit shop owner. According to those reports, he was seriously wounded and underwent surgery; Australian officials have publicly praised him as a hero who likely prevented further casualties.
In remarks at a Christmas reception at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump singled out the Bondi bystander, saying a “very, very brave person … went and attacked frontally one of the shooters and saved a lot of lives,” noting the man was “pretty seriously wounded,” according to the Daily Wire’s account of the event. Trump also called the Bondi shooting “a purely antisemitic attack.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking from Israel after the attack, said he had seen footage of a civilian disarming a gunman and initially believed the individual was Jewish. According to a Daily Wire summary of his remarks, Netanyahu said he “saw a video of a Jew who lunges at one of the murderers, disarms him … and saves who knows how many souls,” before learning more about the man’s identity.
Among those killed was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and one of the key organizers of the “Chanukah by the Sea” event. Chabad and multiple news outlets, including NPR and the Jewish Journal, have identified Schlanger as a victim. The Daily Wire reports that Schlanger, a Chabad emissary, had written an open letter months earlier to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urging him “not to betray the Jewish people and not God Himself,” in response to Australian recognition of a Palestinian state. In the letter, quoted by the Daily Wire and attributed to Israeli Channel 12, Schlanger warned that Jews had been “torn from their land again and again by leaders who are now remembered with contempt in the pages of history.”
Netanyahu had separately sent a letter to Albanese in August 2025 warning of what he called an “alarming rise of antisemitism” in Australia and criticizing what he described as a “lack of decisive action” by the Australian government. In a filmed message after the Bondi attack, Netanyahu accused Albanese of failing to heed his warnings, saying, according to a Daily Wire transcript, that the Australian government “did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism … and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today.”
The Bondi incident comes amid a documented surge in antisemitic incidents in Australia since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Reporting cited by the Daily Wire from the Anti‑Defamation League and Australian Jewish organizations indicates that more than 1,600 antisemitic incidents were recorded nationwide over the past year, including vandalism, arson attempts targeting synagogues and Jewish preschools, harassment and threats, and protest chants invoking “gas the Jews.”
Alex Ryvchin, co‑CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told Sky News that the Bondi massacre represented “the worst fears of the Jewish community,” saying it had “been bubbling under the surface for a long time, and now it’s actually happened,” according to a Daily Wire account of his comments.
Prime Minister Albanese condemned the attack, describing it publicly as a “targeted attack against Jewish Australians” and a “terrorist incident.” In statements reported by Australian and international media, he said, “An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian,” and vowed that “there is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation.” The Daily Wire noted that Albanese’s initial written statement after the shooting did not explicitly mention Jews or Hanukkah, a point that drew criticism from some commentators.
World leaders and officials across the political spectrum have denounced the attack. The Daily Wire reports that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a “vile” terrorist attack and said, “Antisemitism has no place in this world,” while leaders in Israel, India and elsewhere expressed condolences and pledged solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community. New York City mayor‑elect Zohran Mamdani separately described the Bondi shooting as a “vile act of antisemitic terror” in remarks reported by U.S. media.
Australian authorities say the investigation is continuing, with counterterrorism police examining the attackers’ backgrounds, possible overseas links and any online radicalization. Security has been tightened around synagogues and Jewish community events across Australia, and Jewish leaders say the community remains shaken but determined to continue public Hanukkah celebrations.
