Families of Bondi victims demand probe into anti-Semitism in Australia | Crime News

Families of victims of the deadly attack on a Jewish celebration at Australia’s Bondi Beach earlier this month have called for a national inquiry into rising anti-Semitism.

In an open letter published on Monday, relatives of 11 of the victims of the attack called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to hold a royal commission into what they called the “rapid” and “dangerous” rise of anti-Jewish sentiment following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

Fifteen people, most of them Jewish, were killed when two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on December 14.

Australian authorities have said the suspected gunmen, Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, were inspired by the ISIL (ISIS) group.

In their letter, the families said they needed to know why “clear warning signs were ignored” and “how antisemitic hatred … [was] allowed to dangerously grow unchecked”.

“As proud Australians and proud Jews, we have endured more than two and a half years of relentless attacks,” the families said.

“Our children feel unsafe at school and university. Our homes, workplaces, sporting fields, and public spaces no longer feel secure.”

The response of Albanese’s Labor government to the attack, including proposals to tighten gun laws and introduce tougher legislation against hate speech, was “not nearly enough,” the families said.

“The dangerous rise of antisemitism and radicalism in Australia is not going away,” they said.

“We need strong action now. We need leadership now.”

The calls for an inquiry into anti-Semitism came as Albanese on Monday announced the terms of an independent review into whether law enforcement and intelligence agencies could have done more to prevent the attack.

Albanese and his government colleagues have resisted calls for a public inquiry into the attack, arguing that such a process would take years and could undermine social cohesion by platforming extremist voices.

Albanese told a news conference that the review, led by former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson, would examine what authorities knew about the suspected gunmen before the attack and information sharing between federal and state agencies, among other issues.

“Just over two weeks ago, anti-Semitic terrorists tried to tear our country apart, but our country is stronger than these cowards,” Albanese said.

“They went to Bondi Beach to unleash mass murder against our Jewish community. We need to respond with unity and urgency rather than division and delay.”

Anti-Jewish sentiment, as well as anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiment, are rising in Australia. Many Australians have expressed their concerns over a rise in right-wing extremism in the country, where one in two people is either born overseas or has a parent born overseas.

In September, thousands of people held rallies in cities, including Sydney, Perth, Canberra and Brisbane, demanding an end to “mass migration”.

The Australian government has condemned the rallies, which took place under the banner of “March for Australia”, as racist, while Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly said the gatherings were “organised by Nazis”.

The group behind “March for Australia” said on its website and social media that “mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together” and that its rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration”.

But Australia also experienced a sharp rise in both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents since October 7, 2023.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which supports the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, documented 1,654 anti-Jewish incidents nationwide between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025, after more than 2,060 incidents the previous year.

The Islamophobia Register Australia recorded 309 in-person incidents of Islamophobia and 366 online incidents between January 1, 2023 and November 31, 2024.

Numerous rights organisations, including some Jewish groups, have criticised the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, arguing that it has been used to conflate legitimate criticism of Israel – particularly of its genocidal war on Gaza – with anti-Jewish bigotry.

One of Albanese’s highest-profile critics in the wake of the Bondi Beach attack was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – he blamed Albanese’s government for failing to protect Australia’s Jewish community and also linked the shooting to Australia’s recent decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.