Australia on Thursday marked a national day of mourning for the 15 people murdered in an antisemitic terrorist attack on a Chanukah gathering at Sydney’s Bondi Beach last month, lowering flags to half-staff and urging millions to pause for a minute’s silence as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged solidarity with the Jewish community.
The Labor Party leader, who has faced criticism for not doing enough to address rising antisemitism in the lead-up to the Islamic State-inspired shooting by two gunmen at the holiday event, called the day a “solemn opportunity for every Australian to stand with the Jewish community and remember the 15 lives stolen in this deadly attack.”
On this National Day of Mourning, we wrap our arms around the Jewish community. pic.twitter.com/Z74TU71Di6
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) January 21, 2026
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry marked the day with a social media post memorializing the victims, including a video with pictures of each of those “whose lives were so cruelly cut short ..., may their memory be a blessing.”
On this National Day of Mourning, we remember the victims of Bondi whose lives were so cruelly cut short on 14 December 2025. May their memories be for a blessing. pic.twitter.com/iufmhusNef
— Executive Council of Australian Jewry (@ECAJewry) January 21, 2026
The day of mourning was marred in Melbourne, where vandals used machinery to tear down a 155-year-old Pioneer Monument and deface a nearby Separation Memorial in Flagstaff Gardens with anti-Australia graffiti and an inverted red triangle linked to the Hamas terrorist group, prompting condemnation from city leaders and Jewish groups.
National day of mourning today. pic.twitter.com/2Hr0wjQU0o
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) January 22, 2026
The day of mourning came a day after the parliament in Canberra approved hate crime and gun control laws. The legislation was passed after Albanese recalled senators and members of the House of Representatives from summer recess early for a special two-day session.
Albanese announced on Jan. 8 that Australia would establish a royal commission to investigate the Bondi Beach massacre. He said that the government would fully support and adopt all 13 recommendations that Jillian Segal, Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, outlined in her July “Plan to Combat Antisemitism.”
Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy on antisemitism, has said Washington is closely watching Australia’s royal commission amid concern over Albanese’s past pro‑Palestinian activism and his government’s handling of antisemitism.
In a sharply worded letter dated Aug. 17, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu castigated Albanese for his government’s failure to counter Australia’s surging antisemitism.
