Chanukah is the story of the Jewish people who refused to abandon their identity, faith and history in the face of persecution. From ancient Jerusalem to the present day, the lighting of the menorah has marked not comfort or ease, but perseverance—a shining affirmation of Jewish existence and resilience against rising threats and attacks targeting Jews around the world.
During a holiday festival near Australia’s world-famous Bondi Beach, a hail of gunfire turned celebration to horrific tragedy. Fifteen men, women and children were murdered, and dozens morewere injured. Days later, a 16th victim died from their wounds.
“It was an absolute bloodbath, blood gushing everywhere,” reported human-rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky, describing the horror unfolding during a peaceful Jewish celebration. The Australian, who survived a gunshot wound to the head, moved back from Israel two weeks ago to help lead the fight against anti-Jewish hatred on the continent.
“It was chaos,” he continued. “I saw people hit, fall to the ground. My only concern was where are my kids? Where are my kids?”
Two Islamist terrorists—a 50-year-old father and his 24-year-old son, Naveed and Sajid Akram—intentionally targeted Jews. The assailants were armed with six rifles and knives; police later found bombs and Islamic State (ISIS) flags in their car. The son was a follower of an Australian imam whose lectures vilifying Jews were removed from the internet earlier this year.
The victims spanned generations and backgrounds, including a 10-year-old girl, respected rabbis, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor and other community members whose lives were rooted in faith, family and public service. The event was organized by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, an international Jewish organization with some 6,000 emissaries in more than 100 countries known for its outreach to both religious and non-religious Jews.
Matilda Britvan, 10, was remembered as a “joyful child who brought light to everyone around her.” Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger, 41, was outspoken about the Australian government’s failure to respond to growing safety concerns from the Jewish community. In response to rising anti-Jewish hatred, he encouraged Jews to be “more Jewish, act more Jewish and appear more Jewish.” Alex Kleytman, an 87-year-old Ukrainian Holocaust survivor, was celebrating the holiday with his wife of 57 years. Larisa described how her husband was “shot in the back of the head because he raised himself up to protect me.”
Amid the carnage, two individuals emerged as heroes. Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 44-year-old Muslim father of two, snuck up on the older terrorist and wrestled away his rifle. Ahmed was later shot twice and underwent surgery for his wounds. Boris Gurman, 69, also wrestled a rifle away from Sajid Akram when the terrorists emerged from their car before the attack. Unfortunately, the terrorist retrieved another gun, killing Boris and his wife, Sofia.
Australia was long regarded as one of the safest places for Jews living in the Diaspora. That sense of security eroded in recent years after arson attacks against synagogues, chants promoting violence and actions to exclude “Zionists” from public places. For many Australian Jews, the Chanukah massacre marked a devastating confirmation that the threat had reached a new, deadly level.
Warnings ignored: ‘Writing was on the wall’
Only days before the terror attack, leaders from the world’s seven largest Diaspora Jewish communities actually concluded a conference in Australia. Representatives from Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States met to “show our solidarity with the Australian Jewish community and reiterate our call on our governments to ensure the security of the Jewish community.”
The Australian government repeatedly failed to act on clear warning signs following escalating threats against the Jewish community. Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, was targeted earlier this year when an assailant firebombed his former home. Following the Dec. 14 attack on the beach, he stated: “The writing was on the wall. We look to our government to keep us safe, to set the tone, to lead. And clearly, there’s been a colossal failure.”
California: Shots fired at Jewish home, FBI prevents bombings
Attacks against Jews are not limited to any one country or community. A recent shooting and foiled bomb plot illustrate how extremist violence crosses borders, ideologies and targets.
In California, a driver pulled up to a Jewish family’s house decorated for Chanukah and fired about 20 bullets. The gunman yelled, “f**k Jews” as he drove away from the home in Redlands, 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Jonpaul Yohanan Cohen stated that a person yelled “Free Palestine” and the “n-word” at him when he entered his car, moments before the shooting. His brother, sister, mother and grandmother were in their home at the time of the attack.
The FBI arrested five members of a radical left-wing pro-Palestinian group plotting New Year’s Eve bombings against multiple businesses in Southern California—the same group behind the recent violent protest at an LA synagogue. The suspects are members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, dedicated to the destruction of America and Israel. The FBI found posters stating, “Death to America, Long Live Turtle Island and Palestine.”
Globalize the Intifada: ‘Kill the Jews and the Christians’
Former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov explained what his Hamas terrorist captors told him: “They never mentioned land. They always told me it’s about religion. They always told me that their goal after they kill Jews in Israel: They will go around the entire world to kill the Jews and the Christians.”
Recently, German police arrested five men for planning an attack on a Christmas market. The five arrested included an Egyptian imam, a Syrian and three Moroccans, ages 22 to 56. Also, Polish police arrested a university student for plotting a Christmas market attack on behalf of the Islamic State, and French officials canceled the annual New Year’s Eve event in Paris over fears of violence.
The Islamic State and other terror organizations are very active in Africa. The Boko Haram terror group and its allies in Nigeria have murdered more than 50,000 Christians, torched 18,000 churches and uprooted 800 communities since 2009.
This ideology also manifests in the intimidation of Jewish religious life in public spaces. Only hours after Australia’s Chanukah mass shooting, Dutch police arrested 22 pro-Palestinian activists at a protest of an Amsterdam Chanukah concert, even after the cantor, who’s in the Israel Defense Forces, was excluded from the public performance.
Jewish identity and enduring light
In this world of spiraling hate, Chanukah’s historical meaning—rooted in identity, memory and perseverance—takes on renewed relevance.
It commemorates the Maccabean revolt against the Greek Empire in the second-century BCE, when a small Jewish force reclaimed Jerusalem and rededicated the holy Jewish Temple in Jerusalem after it had been desecrated. According to Jewish tradition, a single day’s supply of oil burned for eight days in the restored Temple—a moment remembered by Jews through the lighting of the menorah each night of the annual eight-day holiday.
A recently released video offers rare documentation of Jewish religious expression carried out under extreme duress. In 2023, six Israeli hostages imprisoned in a Hamas tunnel, all brutally murdered months later, were forced to film a propaganda video in which they lit candles, sang a Chanukah song and discussed the role of religion in their lives.
One of them, American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, had compared their conditions in Gaza to the Jews living in Nazi Germany.
During Chanukah in 1931, Rachel Posner photographed her family’s menorah on a windowsill in Berlin, Germany, facing a building draped in Nazi flags. On the back of the photo, she wrote, using Judah as a biblical name for the Jewish people: “‘Death to Judah,’ so the flag says. ‘Judah will live forever,’ so the light answers.”
Points to consider:
1. Warning signs were ignored, with deadly consequences.
Violence is rarely spontaneous. It follows patterns of incitement, intimidation and escalating threats that are visible well in advance. One of the terrorists was previously investigated for ties to the Islamic State terror group and police found Islamic State flags in the terrorists’ car. When leaders ignore or downplay anti-Jewish hatred, they grant permission for extremists to act. Preventing attacks requires early intervention, clear condemnation and preventative security measures, not merely condolences after lives are lost.
2. No ideology justifies violence.
Whether labeled “anti-Zionism” or antisemitism, there is no justification for violence against Jews—or against any human beings. Political disagreement, including criticism of the Israeli government policies, can never excuse calls to harm Jews, intimidate communities or legitimize terror. Attempts to blur this line, minimize incitement or reframe violence as political expression need to be rejected without qualification. There must be zero tolerance for hate.
3. Anti-Jewish violence is not confined to one country or ideology.
Attacks against Jews are fueled by Islamist fundamentalism, radical left demonization and far right extremism. These ideologies differ, but they converge on targeting Jews. Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee: “There is a specific network that works together to sow anti-Jewish hatred, in many cases, working on the left and right. It is pervasive, planned and orchestrated, a very serious global threat across multinational organizations, media across the globe, adversaries and terrorist organizations.”
4. Jews and Christians are targeted by the same extremist networks.
Terror groups increasingly target Jews and Christians as part of the same ideological campaign. From attacks on synagogues and churches to plots timed around Jewish and Christian holidays, the pattern is clear. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee recently described the foundational role of the Jewish people and Jerusalem in Western history: “Without the Jewish people, there would be no Western civilization, and without Western civilization, there would be no America.”
5. Jews are routinely targeted during holidays.
Islamic terrorists repeatedly attack on Jewish holidays to maximize visibility, vulnerability and symbolic impact. Recent examples include this year’s Manchester, England, synagogue attack on Yom Kippur and the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel during the holiday of Simchat Torah on Oct. 7, 2023. Historical assaults include the 2002 Hamas suicide bombing at an Israeli Passover seder that killed 30 civilians and the 1973 Egypt-led Arab attack on the Jewish state, known as the Yom Kippur War. These are not coincidences; they are intentional acts of hatred aimed at gaining maximum impact.
6. Anyone can be a hero.
Acts of moral courage transcend religion, ethnicity and nationality. During the Dec. 14 terror attack in Australia, a Muslim father risked his life to stop an Islamist gunman and save lives. Sadly, a Jewish father lost his life trying to prevent the attack before it started. Their actions prove a simple truth: Courageous acts and brave individuals can fight back against extremism.
7. Chanukah is a symbol of enduring Jewish identity.
The holiday commemorates the Jewish refusal to abandon faith, history and identity under persecution. Rooted in the Maccabean revolt and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, the holiday has endured for more than two millennia. Archaeological evidence and longstanding traditions reinforce the continuity of Jewish identity and presence in the Land of Israel, as well as throughout the Diaspora.
