Thousands gather at Bondi Beach to mourn victims of antisemitic attack

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Thousands of mourners gathered under tight police security at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday evening to mark a week since two gunmen targeting a Jewish festival killed 15 people. Since then, Australian governments have been galvanized into action on countering antisemitism and tightening already strict national gun controls.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his predecessors John Howard and Scott Morrison, and Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who represents Australia’s head of state King Charles III, were among the dignitaries at the commemoration that drew more than 10,000 people.

“This has to be the nadir of antisemitism in our country,” New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies President David Ossip told the crowd. “This has to be the moment when light starts to eclipse the darkness.”

The crowd booed Albanese when Ossip acknowledged his presence. Opposition leader Sussan Ley, who had said that a conservative government led by her would reverse a decision made by Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government this year to recognize a Palestinian state, was cheered.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lashed out at Albanese over the attack on the Hannukah celebration, saying “your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.” Netanyahu has repeatedly sought to link widespread calls for a Palestinian state, and criticism of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ 2023 attack, to growing incidents of antisemitism worldwide.

A national Day of Reflection to honor the victims

Images of the victims, aged 10 to 87, were projected at the commemoration. “Waltzing Matilda” was sung in honor of the youngest victim, whose Ukrainian parents gave their Australian-born daughter what they described as the most Australian name they knew.

A widely acclaimed hero of the massacre, Ahmed al Ahmed, sent a message of support from his hospital bed. The Syrian-born immigrant was shot after wrestling a shotgun from one of the gunmen.

“The Lord is close to the broken-hearted. Today I stand with you, my brothers and sisters,” he wrote.

His father, Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed, was invited to light a candle on the Jewish candelabrum known as a menorah on the final night of Hannukah.

Beyond the famous beach, people around Australia united with Sydney’s stricken Jewish community by lighting candles and observing one minute of silence at their homes at 6:47 p.m. to remember the moment the massacre unfolded. Television and radio networks across Australia also fell silent.

The federal and New South Wales state governments declared Sunday a national Day of Reflection to mark Australia’s worst mass shooting since 35 died in Tasmania state in 1996.

Albanese had earlier announced a review of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies following last week’s attack, which was inspired by the Islamic State group.

Indigenous leaders held a traditional smoking ceremony on Sunday morning at the waterfront Bondi Pavilion, where an impromptu memorial has grown as flowers and heartfelt messages have accumulated. The memorial is to be cleared on Monday.

Mostyn, the governor-general, accepted an invitation from the National Council of Jewish Women for women of all faiths to lay a flower at the memorial on Sunday morning. Hundreds of women and girls dressed in white joined her in making the gesture.

She later delivered a message from the British monarch saying he and Queen Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic attack on Jewish people the Hannukah celebration on Bondi Beach.”

Tight security at Bondi Beach

One of the suspects, Naveed Akram, 24, was shot by police. He has been charged with 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to those wounded. His father, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene.

The Health Department said 13 of those wounded at Bondi remained in Sydney hospitals on Sunday.

Police bolstered security around Bondi on Sunday, including officers armed with rifles. There was criticism that the first police responders last week were armed only with Glock pistols, which did not have the lethal range of the assailants’ shotguns and rifles. Two police officers were critically wounded.

Flags flew at half-staff on the Sydney Harbor Bridge and government buildings, which were lit in yellow on Sunday night in a show of solidarity with the Jewish community.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin said the victims’ families felt “tragically, unforgivably let down” by government failures to combat a growth in antisemitism in Australia since the war between Israel and Hamas began in 2023.

A day after the attack, an emergency meeting of federal and state leaders committed to tightening national gun laws with measures including limiting the number of guns an individual can own. Sajid Akram legally owned six guns, including the two shotguns and two bolt-action rifles used at Bondi.

The New South Wales state parliament will sit on Monday to debate new hate speech and gun draft laws.