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‘It Was Dead People Everywhere’: Inside Australia’s Hanukkah Massacre
People pay respects at Bondi Pavilion to victims of a shooting during a Jewish holiday celebration at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Among the thousands of people who flocked to Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach on Sunday evening, some were seeking relief from the steamy weather while others joined a local Jewish group to celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah, or festival of light. Advertisements promised a petting farm, face painting, and donuts and proclaimed the goal was to “fill Bondi with joy and light.”
Hours later the scene was a bloodbath.
For between 10 and 20 minutes, two gunmen opened fire on attendees at the Hanukkah event, gunning down men, women, and children as terrified beachgoers fled. More than a dozen people were killed and at least 40 wounded, some critically, including two police officers.
Reuters has pieced together the moments when the Hanukkah turned from celebration to fear through interviews with more than a dozen witnesses, comments from police and officials, video footage of the shooting, and media reports.
Police have not named the two suspects, one of whom was killed and the other critically wounded in a shoot-out with police. But state media ABC and other outlets have identified them as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed.
By Sunday, the men had gathered six firearms owned by the father and multiple improvised explosive devices, police said. The father was a registered firearms owner and belonged to a gun club, according to police.
The two men were residing at a spartan Airbnb in the southwestern Sydney suburb of Campsie, according to the ABC, Australia’s public broadcaster. But the son, a 24-year-old unemployed Sydney bricklayer, called his mother to tell her that he and his father, a 50-year-old shopowner, had gone for a weekend fishing trip on Australia’s eastern coast, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, quoting his mother.
In October 2019, Australia’s intelligence agency examined the son for ties to a self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a Monday press conference. Albanese said the agency decided there had been “no indication of any ongoing threat.”
On Sunday evening, two men allegedly left improvised explosive devices in a silver car near Bondi’s beachfront, according to law enforcement, before heading towards the beach.
Video footage subsequently shows two figures dressed in black atop a concrete bridge leading to a park and Bondi’s crowded waters. Videos taken by bystanders showed both men shooting large, high-powered firearms from that highpoint towards the Hanukkah event.
Footage from a surf camera shows dozens of people sprinting across Bondi’s sand to escape the gunfire. A man who gave his name as Terry said his 15-year-old daughter was part of the stampede.
She took refuge in the well-known Iceberg swimming pools at the southern end of Bondi, said Terry, where she used a stranger’s phone to call him at a separate Hanukkah event he was attending.
“You stand here and you think you’re safe,” he said. But growing antisemitic violence, which many link to the war in Gaza, had made him reconsider his life in Australia. “Maybe we need to move to Israel one day,” he said. “The irony is that that’s looking like the only real safe place in the world we can be as Jews.”
A third video shows the older alleged shooter having moved off the bridge and standing by the festival site. There, the older shooter aims directly at an event attendee and fires while other people run.
Phone footage shows a man identified by local media as Sydney resident Ahmed al Ahmed hiding behind a nearby car. As the older shooter continues firing, Ahmed breaks from behind the car and tackles him from behind, tearing the weapon from his hands and pointing it at him as he retreats. Ahmed was shot twice and was being treated at hospital on Monday.
Drone video subsequently shows the older shooter back on the concrete bridge, where he lies prone while the younger gunman moves back and forth before jolting and falling down.
A sixth video shows three police officers race onto the bridge with weapons outstretched. Another shows them holding two men on the ground, while a bystander runs up to kick the men on the ground.
More footage then shows at least nine law enforcement officers on the bridge, with several kneeling over the prone men, delivering chest compressions. Police said the older man died of his wounds at Bondi.
Hussain Rifi, 18, said he was in a shower block nearby with a group of friends. “We were flexing in the mirror, taking videos, and then we hear it: bang, bang, bang,” said Rifi. Soon, he realized the noises were gunshots.
For roughly 20 minutes, he said he and his friends sheltered near the showers, until the shooting seemed to stop. When he peered around, he saw bodies on the ground.
“There were chunks of something human on the floor,” said Rifi. “It was dead people everywhere.”
Hundreds of police and paramedics descended on the scene, from which dozens of victims and the surviving shooter were taken to local hospitals. The latest death toll is 16, including a 10-year-old girl and a British-born rabbi.
As darkness fell and wind scoured the beach, police began sweeping the grass and sand with flashlights, apparently searching for evidence. ABC reported that law enforcement found an Islamic State flag in the suspected gunmen’s car nearby.
On the other side of the city, law enforcement raided the men’s home in the Sydney suburb of Bonnyrigg and their Airbnb in Campsie.
On Bondi’s main road, Rabbi Levi Wolff of Central Sydney Synagogue watched in disbelief. He had raced over from a religious ceremony after hearing the news.
“It’s hard to digest that this is real, that this is something that’s possible on the shores of Australia, somewhere that’s been so hospitable for generations,” he said, before stepping away to take a call from the office of Israel’s president.
“The silent majority” who oppose antisemitism, he said, “has to no longer be silent.”
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Portuguese artists pull out of Jerry Seinfeld-headlined festival
(JTA) — Several Portuguese artists have dropped out of a comedy festival in Lisbon headlined by Jerry Seinfeld, citing their support for Palestinians and implying opposition to Seinfeld’s support for Israel.
At least six acts over recent days have canceled their appearances at the MEO Commedia a La Carte Fest, a new international comedy festival in the Portuguese capital. The event from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 has advertised that it will host Seinfeld’s first live appearance in Portugal.
Though none of the artists who withdrew mentioned Seinfeld by name, some hinted at a boycott against his pro-Israel views. The Jewish comedian has become one of Hollywood’s most prominent advocates for Israel since October 2023.
Actress and comedian Inês Aires Pereira announced on Instagram on Saturday that “one of the names” featured at the festival “persistently defends ideas and acts that I consider indefensible,” adding, “We cannot relativize or normalize a genocide.”
The comedy duo Cebola Mol posted a graphic of themselves with a watermelon, widely recognized as a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians. “We will celebrate justice, freedom and joy with you on another occasion,” they said on Instagram.
The festival announced on Friday that performances by the groups Tributo Pop and Conjunto Cuca Monga were also canceled, but did not provide reasons. Two other acts, comedian Pedro Tochas and visual artist Vhils, shared their cancellations on Instagram without further details.
Seinfeld has aligned himself with Israel during its current conflict in Gaza, following decades of largely avoiding commenting on political issues. He visited Israel in December 2023 to meet with the families of hostages seized by Hamas on Oct. 7 of that year. Since then, he has attracted attention for a series of dismissive remarks toward pro-Palestinian advocates.
During an appearance last year at Duke University, Seinfeld compared pro-Palestinian activists with the Ku Klux Klan, saying, “The Klan is actually a little better here because they can come right out and say, ‘We don’t like Blacks, we don’t like Jews.’ OK, that’s honest.”
Representatives of Seinfeld and producers of the MEO Commedia a La Carte Fest did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The post Portuguese artists pull out of Jerry Seinfeld-headlined festival appeared first on The Forward.
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UK, France, Canada to ban goods from Israeli settlements
(JTA) —
The United Kingdom, France and Canada will ban goods produced in the West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament on Tuesday, explaining that all such communities were deemed by his country to be illegal.
The declaration exacerbated the rising tensions riling the traditionally strong Israel-U.K. alliance. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned that these steps stoked antisemitism against British Jews in an on-camera statement to reporters in Jerusalem.
Sa’ar charged that the measures were a politicized hostile action deliberately taken ahead of Friday’s Jewish New Year holiday, with an eye toward influencing the country’s Oct. 27 elections.
Israel, he said, is responding by closing the British Consulate in Jerusalem that services Palestinians. It will also remove British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat and halt the British training of Palestinian Authority security forces. He added that Israel would bar the entry of 12 British politicians and other nationals involved in anti-Israel activity.
France and Canada have also announced a ban on the import of settlement goods, Miliband told parliament. He noted that the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Norway have either banned goods or in the process of doing so.
In the same address, Miliband affirmed Israel’s right to exist, reflected on his own Jewish roots and rejected the notion that there was a connection between the policy steps against West Bank settlement activity and the safety of British Jews.
What is motivating the U.K., Miliband said, is “a deep sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine under the eyes of the international community” as well as Israel’s “clear intent to bury the Palestinian state.”
In response, he said, the U.K. “will introduce an import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied [Palestinian] territory” as part of a “new comprehensive sanctions regime” that will be put in place within nine months.
This will include, he said, “action against specific companies and individuals who provide services, such as construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate for settlement expansion.”
To those who “finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this, you will face the full force of U.K. sanctions,” Miliband warned.
Miliband clarified that the ban would not affect the export of religious items or life-saving Israeli medications. He explained that trade with the settlements was minimal and that the greater impact would be the sanctions on services.
As part of declaring the ban, Miliband said that the British government is also adopting the International Court of Justice’s 2024 advisory opinion that all Israeli settlement activity over the pre-1967 border was illegal.
But others in Parliament pushed back against Miliband’s declaration. MP Richard Tice of Britain’s right-wing Reform party said that the sanctions were a grave mistake that would “embolden the scourge of antisemitism against British Jews on British streets,” endanger ties with the United States and lead to “tit for tat” sanctions from Israel.
Miliband shot back that “no British Jew is responsible for the policies of the Israeli government and it behooves all of us to make sure that there can be no confusion about that,” saying that Tice’s statement “fell foul” of that goal.
The U.K. action is the latest escalation in tensions between Israel and the Labour-led British government headed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took power in July.
The prior government, led by former Labour Premier Keir Starmer, had already angered Israel by recognizing Palestinian statehood in 2025, suspending licenses for the export of arms to Israel and freezing talks toward a free-trade agreement.
France and Canada are also announcing a ban on the import of settlement goods, Miliband told parliament. He explained that the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, and Norway have either banned goods or in the process of doing so.
In concert with Miliband’s appearance at Parliament, Britain and 11 other countries issued a joint statement pledging “their intention to introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law.”
Those other countries were Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
The 12-country bloc said it was taking this step to maintain the viability of the two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, describing the situation in the West Bank as “rapidly deteriorating.”
In its statement, the bloc stressed that it was taking this step amid an “unprecedented level of settler violence and settlement expansion, including the unacceptable decision to publish tenders for the E1 settlement project.” That project is seen as cutting through land that would render a Palestinian state unviable.
The post UK, France, Canada to ban goods from Israeli settlements appeared first on The Forward.
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California Gov. Newsom, a presidential hopeful, slams Netanyahu and AIPAC in PBS interview
(JTA) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a 2028 presidential hopeful, ventured farther than ever in his criticisms of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a weekend interview that delved into the Democratic Party’s relationship with Israel.
“I think it’s overwhelmingly opposed to the current regime in Israel,” Newsom said of the party, in a PBS News Hour interview with Amna Nawaz.
Pressed by Nawaz on divisions among his colleagues on Israel, Newsom denied that the subject is “even controversial anymore,” stressing that “the condemnation of what Bibi Netnayahu’s doing is almost universal.” The governor slammed the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza and condemned the settler violence that has expanded in the West Bank.
“We want a democratic and secure Israel, and we want a secure and democratic Palestinian state as well right next door,” Newsom said, adding that Netanyahu has proved counterproductive to achieving a two-state solution.
Though he repeatedly maintained that Democrats are not divided on Israel, the governor acknowledged that “some of the language” by fellow Democrats “has been weaponized.” Certain “aspects of rhetoric” from individual candidates, he added, are on “the spectrum of concern,” Newsom said.
A number of candidates from the party’s far left place most if not all of the blame on Israel for a war in Gaza that has resulted in tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths. and downplay the role of Hamas in launching the war with the Oct. 7, 2023 raid inside Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were abducted. Newsom’s rhetoric is of a piece with party moderates who are critical of the Israeli government but who call for a secure Israel, reject Hamas and who resist pressure from the left to call Israel’s actions “genocide.”
Newsom nonetheless insisted that the party is unified on the issue. “But I think universally, everyone agrees, even if you don’t think it’s genocide, that it’s been a moral catastrophe,” he said of the war in Gaza. “The vast majority of us also agree about the atrocities on Oct. 7th and how horrific and unacceptable it was, and the terrorism that was perpetrated by Hamas.”
Newsom was among the many U.S. politicians to visit Israel in October 2023, meeting with survivors and families impacted by the attacks.
During a March book tour, Newsom sparked a backlash when he said that some people were referring to Israel “appropriately as sort of an apartheid state.” He quickly walked back these remarks, telling Politico that he had used the term “in the context of the direction that Bibi is going.”
“I revere the state of Israel,” he declared at the time.
The governor warned, however, that if Netanyahu proceeds in the direction of West Bank annexation, apartheid could become “a word you may hear others use.”
In addition to amplifying his condemnation of Netanyahu this weekend, Newsom also addressed the fact that fewer Democrats are accepting funds from political action committees affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group.
As for Newsom himself, Track AIPAC, an organization that compiles Federal Election Commission data to flag pro-Israel campaign contributions, did not log any such donations to the likely presidential candidate. But the group did flag him as “pro-Israel.”
“It’s a minority of Democrats that are accepting AIPAC,” the governor said, noting a “dramatic change” over the last couple years.
“The vast majority of Democrats I talk to, even Democrats in the past that have in the past have taken AIPAC money, are pledging not to now,” Newsom added. “That’s more of a mainstream position, interestingly, within the Democratic Party.”
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