Statement on the Antisemitic Terrorist Attack in Australia

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns with deep sadness the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which took place on Sunday, December 14. The attack, which has been declared an act of terrorism by New South Wales law enforcement and Australian Prime Minister Albanese, has left at least sixteen people dead, including a ten-year-old girl and an elderly Holocaust survivor who died shielding his wife from the bullets. Over three dozen more victims are in hospital with serious injuries. This attack is one of the deadliest attacks on Jews in the English-speaking world, ranking alongside the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) in 2018 that killed 11 members of the congregation. The Lemkin Institute mourns the loss of these irreplaceable people and implores gentiles around the world to step up efforts to defend the rights of their Jewish neighbors and fellow citizens.

Two shooters targeted Jewish Australians as hundreds gathered on Bondi Beach to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah. Hanukkah – often called “The Festival of Lights” – is a time for celebrating religious freedom and the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after it was reclaimed from oppressors by the Maccabees. It commemorates the miracle of one day’s worth of oil burning for eight days – a testament to God’s presence in the darkness. It is an especially important holiday for honoring faith, family, tradition, and identity in majority-Christian nations, which celebrate Christmas around the same time of year.

Sunday’s brazen act of violent antisemitism, timed to coincide with the start of this holiday, is an attack on the Jewish identity as such and undermines the safety and security of the Jewish community as a whole, not just in Australia, but everywhere in the world.

Antisemitism is a genocidal ideology that has existed for two millennia and has spread since the Holocaust to become a global menace. It has been on the rise across the world in the past decades due to many factors, including the increased popularity of far-right movements, the growth of social media, and widespread political polarization and economic uncertainty. Experts have been calling attention to a particular spike in antisemitic incidents worldwide since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released data in 2024 that showed a 63 percent increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes in the U.S. since 2023. A 2024 European Commission report documented a “significant rise” in antisemitic incidents since 2023, particularly involving online hate speech. German police documented a 20 percent rise in antisemitic incidents in 2024. A 2024 Canadian House of Commons report found a dramatic rise in antisemitic hate crimes after October 7, 2023 – a 109.1% increase from 2022. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry counted over 3,700 anti-Jewish incidents since 2023, five times more than in the previous decade. While we do not yet know the precise motivations of the shooters, it is clear that Jews around the world are facing antisemitic collective punishment for the actions and policies of the State of Israel.

To mercilessly open fire on any community initiating religious observance is a grave trespass of human dignity and an assault on the rights of all human beings to be able to freely practice their religion and to do so without fear of persecution. Attacks specifically on Jews as Jews, particularly in Western countries, always raise the specter of the Holocaust. They are by nature genocidal.

The Lemkin Institute wishes to honor and praise the courage of Australian national Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian immigrant who tackled and wrested a gun from one of the shooters, preventing more loss of life. Ahmed’s father remarked to the press about his son’s actions, “[w]hen he did what he did, he wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving, the people dying in the street. He doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another. Especially here in Australia, there’s no difference between one citizen and another.” Another Syrian Australian made a connection between Ahmed’s intervention in the mass shooting at Bondi Beach and the struggle against persecution in Syria. “This is not strange for a Syrian individual,” he said, “We’ve refused injustice and persecution [in Syria] and it’s not strange that one of us had the feeling: ‘No, I will not watch, I will die to help.’”

As antisemitic attacks are increasing across the globe, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention stands in solidarity with Jews across the world and condemns this heinous act. We extend our deepest condolences to the Jewish community of Australia and especially to the families of the victims. We urge our supporters to stand in solidarity with the victims and survivors of the Bondi Beach massacre, to be proactive in condemning and combating antisemitism in their communities and nations, and to offer their support to their Jewish neighbors.

Never Again.