Top Israeli officials accused the leftist government in Australia of failing to meaningfully confront antisemitism before the deadly terror attack against the Sydney Jewish community in Bondi on Sunday.
Multiple gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing at least 11 and injuring 29, including a Rabbi, a police officer, and an Israeli citizen, in what is being described as a terrorist attack. One of the suspected attackers was reportedly killed during the incident, while the other is said to remain in custody.
One of the shooters has been identified by ABC News as Naveed Akram. Only described as having lived in the multicultural Bonnyrigg suburb of Sydney, police have yet to confirm his nationality, ethnicity, or motive. Police have also not revealed at the time of this reporting whether Akram was the shooter who was killed or if he was taken into custody.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon implied that one of the gunmen was known to police before the attack, but said that “the person that we know has very, very little knowledge to the police… So he’s not someone that we would have automatically been looking at, at this time.”
Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said per the Times of Israel, that he had sent a letter to Australian PM Anthony Albanese in August, accusing the leftist leader of pouring fuel “on this antisemitic fire” by recognising Palestine as a state.
“It encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets. Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent; it retreats when leaders act. I call upon you to replace weakness with action, appeasement with resolve,” Netanyahu said that he wrote.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett also took aim at the government in Canberra, saying that while the events were tragic, he was “not surprised”.
“The writing was on the wall and we’ve seen a wave of antisemitism in Australia, and we’ve also seen a very feeble response from the Australian leadership,” he said. “We time and again said that this would happen and not much was done. We have to fight antisemitism so this can never happen again.”
Albanese also faced criticism from Bennet for not mentioning Islamism as a motive for the attack on Sunday, saying, “We all know what it is. We all know the Jewish community is under attack.”
“I’m not suggesting that he (Albanese) needs to talk about the particular perpetrators, even though there’s gathering information about them, but there is a context here. And this is very symbolic of the past two years and the weakness and the closing shutting your eyes against evil. Evil happens when good people sit aside and allow evil to happen.”
Similar criticism of Albanese’s statement was also made by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who said: “The disgraceful statement from Australia PM never mentioned it was jihadist attack on Jews on first day of Hanukkah. Hope he’s ashamed of antisemitic statements past year.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump told FOX News reporter Peter Doocy that his message to Jewish Americans as they prepare for Hanukkah is “Be proud of who you are – celebrate proudly”.
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