Two homemade Islamic State flags, and improvised explosive devices, were discovered in a vehicle linked to the gunmen who killed 15 people at a Chanukah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Australian authorities said Monday, as the nation mourned its deadliest mass shooting in nearly 30 years.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett declared the massacre “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the gunmen appeared driven by “Islamic State ideology” and were “not part of a wider cell.”
Suspects’ overseas training
A senior counterterrorism official told Australia’s ABC News on Tuesday that the Bondi terrorists traveled to the southern Philippines last month where they underwent military-style training, returning to Australia weeks before committing the massacre.
Philippines immigration authorities confirmed that the pair entered the country on Nov. 1 and departed on Nov. 28, with Sajid Akram, 50, entering with an Indian passport, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, with an Australian passport.
Attack on Chanukah celebration
The attack on Sunday evening transformed a festive Jewish holiday event into what witnesses described as “absolute hell on Earth,” with the terrorists firing more than 100 rounds from a footbridge overlooking Archer Park near the iconic beach.
Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram opened fire on families gathered for “Chanukah by the Sea,” an event widely publicized as a community celebration promising food, face painting and menorah lighting.
Sajid was killed at the scene after an unarmed bystander tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen. Naveed remains hospitalized in critical condition under police guard.
Casualties and hospitalizations
The victims ranged in age from 10 to 87 and included two rabbis, a Holocaust survivor and a French national. At least 42 people were injured, including two police officers in serious but stable condition.
New South Wales Health said on Tuesday that 24 people remain hospitalized, including three in critical condition, five critical but stable and 16 stable.
Investigation widens
Investigators believe that Sajid and Naveed swore allegiance to Islamic State, according to ABC News, which reported on Tuesday that Naveed was a follower of pro-Islamic State preacher Wisam Haddad. The Sydney jihadist religious figure “has become notorious for violent antisemitic lectures, including lectures quoting religious texts about the killing of Jews,” the report said. A Federal Court ruling in July found he breached the Racial Discrimination Act over antisemitic lectures.
His lawyer denied that his client had any knowledge of or involvement in Sunday’s shooting.
Despite his extremist associations, Naveed Akram was not on a terrorism watchlist before the attack, and his father had legal access to firearms. Australian leaders were evasive on Monday when pressed about why the father was permitted to hold six guns despite the investigations into his son’s suspected ties with Islamic State.
Albanese confirmed on Monday that Naveed first came to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s (ASIO) attention in October 2019 and was under investigation for six months, but there was an assessment that he posed no ongoing threat.
ABC News reported that the younger Akram was closely connected to an Islamic State cell member, Isaac El Matari, now serving seven years in jail for planning an IS insurgency. Counterterrorism officials said the agency was also concerned about Naveed’s association with an IS youth recruiter, Youssef Uweinat, who served nearly four years in prison for grooming and encouraging boys to launch attacks.
Nation mourns and shows solidarity
The Sydney Opera House was illuminated Monday night with a large menorah projected on its iconic sails, at the direction of New South Wales Premier Chris Minns.
“Lighting the Opera House is a simple but powerful gesture: a message to the world that we cherish our Jewish community, that we honor their courage, and that we stand with them in solidarity and love,” Minns said.
Days after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, hundreds of pro-Hamas protesters chanted “gas the Jews” at an anti-Israel rally outside of the Sydney Opera House. The mob also chanted “F*** the Jews” and Allahu Akbar (Arabic for “God is Great”) as they waved Palestinian flags.
More than 1,000 people gathered Monday at Bondi Pavilion for a vigil, where Rabbi Yossi Shuchat lit two candles for the second night of Chanukah. “Lightness will always persevere; darkness cannot continue where there is light,” he told mourners as hundreds of bouquets surrounded a large Chanukah menorah.
Additional vigils were held across Sydney and Melbourne, including an interfaith ceremony in Sydney’s Hyde Park where Jewish, Muslim and First Nations community leaders spoke.
The Caulfield Shule synagogue in Melbourne was packed to capacity by 2,000 people.
