Relatives of victims killed and wounded in the Dec. 14 mass shooting at a Chanukah party on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, joined calls on Monday for a national inquiry into antisemitism and authorities’ preparation and response to the attack.
Seventeen families urged Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in an open letter to “immediately establish a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the rapid rise of antisemitism in Australia” and examine “law enforcement, intelligence and policy failures that led to the Bondi Beach massacre.”
Two suspected jihadists, father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram, are believed to have murdered 15 people on Bondi Beach and wounded another 40 in what authorities have described as an antisemitic terrorist attack. Sajid, the father, who was a Pakistani citizen living in Australia, was killed in exchanges of fire. His son, Naveed, was wounded and was charged with the murders. He has not entered a plea.
“We need to know why clear warning signs were ignored, how antisemitic hatred and Islamic extremism were allowed to dangerously grow unchecked, and what changes must be made to protect all Australians going forward,” the 17 families wrote.
Many Australian Jews and others believe the government has failed to intervene when hatred of Israel and Jews went on display on the streets of large cities after Oct. 7, 2023, including at a mass anti-Israel rally on Oct. 8, 2023, where participants chanted either “Gas the Jews” or “Where’s the Jews” (the exact phrase is disputed).
On Thursday, the Rabbinical Association of Australasia published a letter to Albanese, a Labor Party leader whose government has been more hostile to Israel than its predecessors, also demanding an inquiry. The Jewish community of Australia feels that Labor’s response has been “insufficient,” the Rabbinical Association wrote.
“Antisemitism today does not recognise state borders. It spreads like a cancer through national and global networks—online platforms, funding streams, radical Islamist and other extremist ideologies, and radicalization pathways—many of which fall substantially within Commonwealth responsibility,” the statement read.
Albanese has resisted calls for a federal probe into the incident, despite two lawmakers from his party, Ed Husic and Mike Freelander, breaking ranks to call for one.
Instead, Albanese has called for a review into federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to examine whether they have adequate powers, structures, processes and sharing arrangements. He has also announced sweeping gun law reform—a plan that some Australian Jews have dismissed as a diversion from the issue exposed during the attack.
