Australia honours victims of a Bondi Beach antisemitic terror attack as PM Albanese orders a review of police, intelligence and gun laws
SYDNEY: Australia on Sunday was honouring victims of a gun attack a week earlier on a seaside Hanukkah celebration, as the prime minister announced a review of the country’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The nation was marking a day of reflection to honour the 15 people killed and the dozens wounded in the attack by two gunmen at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. With security tight and flags at half-staff on government buildings, a minute of silence was to be held at 6:47 p.m. (0747 GMT), the time the attack began.
Authorities invited Australians to light a candle on Sunday evening, the start of the eighth and final day of the Jewish festival of lights, “as a quiet act of remembrance with family, friends or loved ones” of the victims of the attack, allegedly carried out by a father and son.
An evening memorial event at Bondi Beach will take place under a heavy police presence, including officers carrying long-arm firearms, police said in a statement.
Albanese under pressure to curb antisemitism
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the review, to be led by a former chief of Australia’s spy agency, would probe whether federal police and intelligence agencies have the “right powers, structures, processes and sharing arrangements in place to keep Australians safe”.
The attack exposed gaps in gun-license assessments and information-sharing between agencies that policymakers have said they want to plug.
Albanese has announced a nationwide gun buyback, while gun safety experts say the nation’s gun laws, among the world’s toughest, are riddled with loopholes.
The authorities are investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism targeting Jews.
Patrols and policing across the country have been ramped up to prevent further antisemitic violence. Authorities believe the gunmen were inspired by militant Sunni Muslim group Islamic State.
“The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation. Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond,” Albanese said in a statement, adding that the review would conclude by the end of April.
Albanese, under pressure from critics who say his centre-left government has not done enough to curb a surge in antisemitism since the start of the war in Gaza, has vowed to strengthen hate laws in the wake of the attack.
The Bondi Beach attack was the most serious of a string of antisemitic incidents in Australia, which have included attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars, since Israel launched the war in October 2023, in response to an attack by Hamas.
Albanese condemned anti-immigration rallies being held in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday.
“There are organised rallies seeking to sow division in the aftermath of last Sunday’s antisemitic terrorist attack, and they have no place in Australia,” he said in a statement. “They should not go ahead and people should not attend them.”
Only about 50 people were at the Sydney rally by mid-afternoon, according to a Reuters witness.
On Saturday, the government of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, pledged to introduce a bill on Monday to ban the display of symbols and flags of “terrorist organisations”, including those of Islamic State, Hamas, al-Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Boko Haram and Hezbollah.
Authorities say Islamic State flags were found in the car the alleged attackers took to Bondi.
Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene.
His 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, who was also shot by police and emerged from a coma on Tuesday, has been charged with 59 offences, including murder and terrorism, according to police. He remains in custody in hospital.
