Australia holds first funerals for rabbis killed in Bondi Beach attack, as questions mount over the gunmen’s radicalisation and intelligence failures.
SYDNEY: Australia held the first funerals on Wednesday for victims of the Bondi Beach mass shooting.
Large crowds gathered to mourn two rabbis slain in the attack that killed 15 people and wounded dozens more on Sunday.
Father-of-five Eli Schlanger, known as the “Bondi rabbi”, was mourned in a service at Chabad of Bondi Synagogue.
“Anyone who knew him knew that he was the very best of us,” said Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
A second funeral was held in the afternoon for 39-year-old rabbi Yaakov Levitan, a father of four renowned for his charitable work.
Authorities said the attack by father-and-son gunmen Sajid and Naveed Akram was designed to sow panic among the nation’s Jews.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the pair had been radicalised by an “ideology of hate”.
“It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State ideology,” he told national broadcaster ABC.
Questions are mounting over whether authorities could have acted earlier to foil the attack.
Naveed Akram came to the attention of Australia’s intelligence agency in 2019 but was not considered an imminent threat.
Police are investigating whether the pair met with Islamist extremists during a November visit to the Philippines.
Carrying long-barrelled guns, the duo fired upon the Bondi beachfront for 10 minutes before police shot and killed 50-year-old Sajid.
Naveed, 24, was also shot and remained in hospital under police guard after waking from a coma.
Australia’s leaders have agreed to toughen gun laws that allowed father Sajid to own six firearms.
The attack has revived allegations that Australia is dragging its feet in the fight against antisemitism.
“I demand that Western governments do what is necessary to fight antisemitism and provide the required safety and security for Jewish communities worldwide,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. – AFP
