Israeli actress Gal Gadot said on Sunday that she will light a Chanukah candle in honor of the victims of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, calling on her social-media followers to commemorate the dead by “demanding a world where every life is safe.”
“Fifteen innocent souls—including a Holocaust survivor, a rabbi and a child—were senselessly murdered while celebrating the first night of Chanukah, the Festival of Light,” she shared on Instagram, following the massacre in Sydney, Australia.
As of Monday afternoon, the number of people killed had risen to 16, including one of the terrorists.
“It is easy to feel defeated,” the Hollywood star continued. “But let us be clear: our strength is not in despair, but in the light we fiercely choose to create in this terrible void.”
Following the deadly antisemitic attack in Australia, @GalGadot writes, “I will light my Chanukah candle tonight in their honor and for a world of light. Only light.” 🕎 pic.twitter.com/iM7udadHH0
— Noa Tishby (@noatishby) December 14, 2025
American actor Ashton Kutcher expressed his grief in the wake of the attack as well, posting on X: “Antisemitic rhetoric is not abstract—it carries a cost, and my brothers and sisters continue to pay it.
“May this devastation somehow spark a hidden miracle, one our eyes do not yet have the merit to see,” he added.
Antisemitic rhetoric is not abstract—it carries a cost, and my brothers and sisters continue to pay it. May this devastation somehow spark a hidden miracle, one our eyes do not yet have the merit to see. 🕎
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) December 14, 2025
American comedian and writer Alex Edelman posted a 1932 photo on X of a Chanukah menorah placed on a windowsill facing an unfurled Nazi flag across the street.
“I think of this photo a lot. The owner, Rachel Posner, donated it to Yad Vashem, and on the back wrote in German: ‘Chanukah 5692 (1932). ‘Death to Judah,’ so the flag says. ‘Judah will live forever,’ so the light answers.’ Some lights cannot be extinguished. Chag Sameach.”
I think of this photo a lot. The owner, Rachel Posner, donated it to Yad Vashem, and on the back wrote in German: “Chanukah 5692 (1932). ‘Death to Judah,’ so the flag says. ‘Judah will live forever,’ so the light answers.” Some lights cannot be extinguished. Chag Sameach. pic.twitter.com/yVEEBy5JGH
— Alex Edelman (@AlexEdelman) December 14, 2025
Actress and musician Mandy Moore conveyed her shock on social media, posting, “On the first night of Hanukkah and in a country with very strict gun control laws. Absolutely devastating. My heart is with all my Jewish friends around the world.”
Australian actress and comedian Rebel Wilson reacted on Instagram.
“Just waking up to the news about what’s happened on Bondi Beach,” she wrote. “An absolute tragedy that is the most un-Australian thing to have happen. We shouldn’t have gun violence in Australia, we shouldn’t have antisemitism—it’s not us! Thinking of everyone affected by this devastating violence.”
Speaking to Fox News after the massacre, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy said, “I mean, it’s sadness, it’s tragic. And there’s a lot of tragic news. I actually tweeted out, I mean, between this, between Brown University, the Syria attacks, you don’t even want to turn on the TV. I wish I could say I’m shocked or surprised, but attacks like these seem borderline inevitable with what’s going on in the world. It’s tragic and it’s sad, but not surprising. And that in itself is probably, you know, the saddest part of it that I’m not surprised.”
He went on to say that antisemitic attacks are brushed off today as though “Jews deserve it,” and if Jews retaliate, “it’s the Jews’ fault.”
