Sydney Hanukkah horror at Bondi Beach sparks criticism for post-October 7 extremism

Sunday’s deadly terrorist attack on Australian Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney was something the country’s small but historic community has feared since a wave of antisemitic incidents began after October 7, 2023, massacre of Hamas in Israel.

While Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack, calling it “a targeted attack on Australian Jews on the first day of Hanukkah”, his critics say his Labor government has not responded adequately to the alarming rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the country.

Avi Yemini of Rebel News Australia, who documented the attacks against the community, told Fox News Digital that a few days after the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, “crowds of Islamic extremists were already openly chasing the Jews here in Australia, singing: ‘Where are the Jews’ outside the Sydney Opera House. Action to address the problem, tonight is horrible attack in Bondi it was tragically inevitable and is unlikely to be the last.”

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He said: “The Australian Labor government has been unwilling to act decisively, partly because of its political dependence on the votes of the Islamic community. As a result, many Australian Jews are now facing a devastating wake-up call that this country is no longer as safe for us as it once was. I believe that many will seriously consider a move to Israel.”

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Adding to the anger, Australian Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faced criticism for not noticing in an earlier published statement. on X that the deadly attack was directed at Australian Jews.

After the attack, a journalist confronted Albanese with concerns about his government’s response to anti-Semitism, citing his government’s recognition of a Palestinian state, labor ministers attacking the Israeli government and refusing to visit the sites of the massacres of October 7, and the simultaneous appointment of special mandates for Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. The journalist asked Albanese if his government had taken anti-Semitism seriously.

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“Yes, we took it seriously,” replied Albanese. “And we continued to act. We continued to work with the leaders of the Jewish community. We continued to take all the advice from the security agencies to put in place special measures, and we will continue to do so.”

Albanese’s press office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on frustrations regarding the prime minister’s response to the mass attack.

The Executive Council of Australian Jews (ECAJ) recently documented 1,654 anti-Jewish incidents across Australia between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025, “on top of 2,062 incidents across the country the year before”.

He also noted, “anti-Semitic incidents in Australia remain at historically high levels, almost five times the average number annually before 7 October 2023. . . . While there has been a marginal reduction from last year’s high, the most serious categories of incidents, including arson attacks against synagogues, pre-schools and other Jewish institutions, are more on record than in any previous year.”

Some of the most shocking incidents that have hit Australia’s Jewish community since October 7, 2023, until Sunday’s terrorist attack include:

Melbourne

Masked individuals who set fire to the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea while congregants were saying morning prayers. The fire caused widespread damage and injured a worshiper.

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Sydney:

Sydney’s Allawah Synagogue has been marked with swastika graffiti. The next day, the Newtown Synagogue, also in Sydney, was in a similar manner. The week before, a car in Sydney had been painted with an anti-Semitic phrase.

Major property damage was inflicted on a childcare center near a Jewish school and a synagogue in Sydney during an arson attack. Anti-Semitic graffiti was found inside.

A car was set on fire in a Jewish community in Sydney, and as many as seven houses in the area were vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti.

Two health workers in Sydney who spoke on the social platform Chatrouletka with an Israeli man said they refused treatment to Israeli patients and had previously killed Israeli patients.

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Gideon Sa’ar, the stranger Minister of Israel, expressed his grief to his Australian counterpart Penny Wong by phone. On Sunday X, Sa’ar said that he told the minister of foreign affairs of Australia that “security for the Jewish community in Australia will be achieved only through a real change in the public atmosphere. Calls like “Globalize the Intifada”, “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” and “Death to the IDF” are not legitimate, they are not part of what the Australian government must inevitably lead today to take action. strongly against the use of these so-called anti-Semites”.

Australian populist Pauline Hanson told X that Albanians “never heeded the warning signs, including weekly anti-Semitic protests across our nation, hate speech by some religious clerics, our hateful universities and possible terrorist alerts.” Hanson said the Jewish community in Australia has “the same right to live in peace and harmony as all Australians”, and called on the authorities to “be honest when they reveal the identity and origin of these killers”.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.