The deadly shooting during a Hanukkah celebration at Australia's Bondi Beach follows a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks in the country since the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in Gaza.
The advocacy group the Executive Council of Australian Jewry tallied more than 3,700 anti-Jewish incidents in the country during the two years after the Hamas attack. The pace of incidents during that period was five times what it was in the decade before the attack. The incidents ranged from anti-Israel graffiti to the arson and destruction of a Melbourne synagogue.
Other countries have seen a similar rise in antisemitic attacks, although not as sharp as Australia's. Jewish leaders from around the world convened in Sydney earlier this month to highlight the mounting concern.
"What is happening in Australia is not an exception; it should be a wake-up call to communities worldwide," said Marina Rosenberg, a senior vice president for international affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, in a statement earlier this month. "When synagogues can be firebombed in Melbourne and Jews threatened and attacked in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Toronto, this is a threat not only to Jewish safety but to democratic stability itself."
Australia's government blamed Iran for organizing arson attacks on the Melbourne synagogue and a kosher food company in Sydney last year.
On Sunday, two gunmen, identified by authorities as a father and son, opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens of others.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it an act of antisemitic terrorism.
"This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith," Albanese said.
Major cities around the world responded with beefed up security for their own Hanukkah events.
Australia is home to about 117,000 Jews, who make up less than 0.5% of the country's population.
Albanese vowed that his country would respond to the Bondi Beach attack with "a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith."
In 2024, Australia established a special envoy to combat antisemitism, who endorsed a wide-ranging campaign, including on college campuses and the media. The resulting plan drew some criticism that it risked conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza.
A commentary published by the University of New South Wales' Australian Human Rights Institute acknowledged the worrisome rise in antisemitic incidents in the country, but warned that not all criticism of Israel is motivated by anti-Jewish sentiment.
In September, Australia joined Canada and the United Kingdom in granting recognition to the state of Palestine, in hopes of building momentum for a two-state solution to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu charged that Australia's recognition of a Palestinian state "pours fuel on the antisemitic fire."
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