Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged a review of his country\u2019s gun laws and added support for Jewish Australians, as his government faces scrutiny following a deadly shooting at Sydney\u2019s Bondi Beach.<\/p>\n
On Monday afternoon, Albanese faced reporters to answer questions about the shooting, which took place a day earlier, during a local Hanukkah celebration. At least 15 people have died, including a 10-year-old girl, and dozens are reported injured.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cWhat we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of terror, an act of anti-Semitism: an attack on the first day of Hanukkah, targeted at the Jewish community,\u201d Albanese said in prepared remarks, after visiting the crime scene.<\/p>\n \u201cA dark day in Australia\u2019s history, on what should have been a day of light.\u201d<\/p>\n The Australian government has yet to name the suspected attackers, identifying them only as a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son. The father died in a shootout with police, while the son is currently being treated at a local hospital.<\/p>\n Hanukkah is sometimes called the Festival of Lights, and in Monday\u2019s news conference, Albanese encouraged Australians to participate in a show of solidarity with the country\u2019s Jewish community.<\/p>\n \u201cI would urge and join with others who have urged Australians across the country to light a candle, put it in their front window tonight at 6:47pm [19:47 GMT] to show that light will indeed defeat darkness \u2013 part of what Hanukkah celebrates, of course,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are stronger than the cowards who did this.\u201d<\/p>\n But while Albanese and other officials urged calm, critics questioned whether the government had done enough to curtail both anti-Semitism and gun violence.<\/p>\n One of Albanese\u2019s highest-profile critics in the wake of the attack was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n The right-wing Israeli leader blamed Albanese\u2019s centre-left government for failing to protect Australia\u2019s Jewish community. He also linked the shooting to Australia\u2019s recent decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n \u201cYour call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the anti-Semitic fire,\u201d Netanyahu said in remarks directed at Albanese, voicing sentiments he later repeated in a social media post.<\/p>\n \u201cIt emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets.\u201d<\/p>\n Those remarks fuelled outrage and accusations that Netanyahu was leveraging the tragedy for political aims.<\/p>\n In a post on social media, UN special rapporteur Ben Saul also criticised Netanyahu for linking Australia\u2019s recognition of Palestinian statehood to Sunday\u2019s shootings.<\/p>\n \u201cI am disgusted that the Israeli PM links Australia\u2019s principled support for a Palestinian State with yesterday\u2019s terrorist attack in Bondi,\u201d said Saul, who also serves as an international law chair at the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n \u201cAustralia has taken extensive measures to prevent anti-semitism,\u201d Saul added.<\/p>\n When asked on Monday morning about Netanyahu\u2019s remarks, Albanese said his focus was on bringing people together.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a moment for national unity,\u201d the Australian prime minister told reporters in Sydney. \u201cThis is a moment for Australians to come together. That\u2019s precisely what we\u2019ll be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n He also said his government would beef up funding and support to protect Jewish community members, including covering the costs of guard services.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re extending the funding for the National Council for Jewish Community Security and its state-based community security groups, to provide overall security cover to the Jewish community,\u201d Albanese said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also working with Jewish community organisations to see how we can best support charity efforts, including through tax-deductible status for donations.\u201d<\/p>\n Albanese also told reporters on Monday afternoon that he would be convening a meeting of state premiers to discuss \u201ctougher gun laws, including limits on the number of guns that can be used or licensed by individuals\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople\u2019s circumstances change. People can be radicalised over a period of time. Licences should not be in perpetuity,\u201d said Albanese.<\/p>\n His remarks follow questions about the six guns recovered from the scene of the shooting and the revelation that the 24-year-old suspect had previously come under police scrutiny.<\/p>\n Officials have repeatedly said the 50-year-old suspect had \u201cmet the eligibility criteria for a firearms licence\u201d, and that the 24-year-old was previously not deemed to be a threat.<\/p>\n Australia introduced some of the world\u2019s strictest gun laws, including bans on automatic and semiautomatic rifles and shotguns, after a shooter killed 35 people in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur in 1996.<\/p>\n The 1996 reforms, introduced under former Prime Minister John Howard, were hailed as a success after Australia saw no mass shootings occur for close to two decades.<\/p>\n However, according to a recent report from the Australia Institute, the implementation of the laws has lapsed in recent years, with more guns now in the country than before 1996.<\/p>\n On Monday, Albanese said the reforms had \u201cmade an enormous difference\u201d and were a \u201cproud moment\u201d of bipartisan action, but that reviews were now needed to ensure better coordination between states.<\/p>\n Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales, where the shooting took place, also told reporters on Monday he would be reviewing gun laws.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make sure that prospective reform and change in New South Wales has a lasting impact,\u201d Minns said. \u201cIt\u2019s not the last time I\u2019ll be mentioning it, and you can expect action soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s shooting at Bondi Beach follows several other mass shootings in recent years, including a 2022 attack in Wieambilla, Queensland, linked to Christian fundamentalist ideology that left six people dead.<\/p>\n An Australian man was also responsible for the attack in 2019 that killed 51 people at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, where semiautomatic weapons are still sold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged a review of his country\u2019s gun laws and added support for Jewish Australians, as his government faces scrutiny following a deadly shooting at Sydney\u2019s Bondi Beach. On Monday afternoon, Albanese faced reporters to answer questions about the shooting, which took place a day earlier, during a local Hanukkah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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