SYDNEY — The alleged gunman in the deadly antisemitic attack in Bondi Beach was charged with 15 counts of murder on Wednesday, as criticism mounted of the government’s failure to prevent the deadliest act of terrorism on Australian soil.
Naveed Akram, 24, was charged with a total of 59 offenses — including committing a terrorist act — after regaining consciousness in the Sydney hospital where he remains under police guard. His father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was killed by police after the pair allegedly opened fire Sunday evening on a Hanukkah festival at the popular tourist spot in what authorities say was an “ISIS-inspired” attack.
The charges came as the first of the 15 killed were laid to rest Wednesday in emotional scenes at cemeteries and synagogues across the city.
But even as Jewish Australians began to bury their dead, their grief was laced with anger over what they said was the center-left Labor government’s inadequate response to a rising wave of antisemitism.
“We, as a Jewish community, have been abandoned and left alone by our government,” Josh Frydenberg, a former treasurer for the opposition conservative coalition, said near the site of the attack. “Our governments have failed every Australian when it comes to fighting hate and antisemitism.”
That anger was compounded by uncertainty over the lead up to the atrocity.
Australian media have reported that Sajid and Naveed Akram traveled to the Philippines last month for “military-style training.” But Australian officials have so far refused to confirm that they received training there, saying only that the Akrams made the trip and that it is under investigation.
Authorities in the Philippines have also confirmed the trip but denied that the two men trained with local groups linked to the Islamic State.
Naveed Akram, an Australian-born citizen, had previously come to authorities’ attention. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that the younger man was investigated by Australia’s security agency in 2019 for his “associations” with extremists but was deemed not to pose a risk at that time.
His father obtained a firearms license in 2023 and accumulated six firearms, four of which were used in the attack, authorities have said.
That timeline has raised questions over whether the elder Akram should have been awarded a license and whether there was a breakdown in information sharing between state and federal authorities.
“You’ve only got to look at the unfortunate loss of life and injuries to tell that clearly a mistake has been made,” Peter Moroney, a former detective in the New South Wales Police terrorism investigations squad, told The Washington Post.
“These types of incidents, they don’t just happen overnight. There’s a degree of planning and preparation that would go into that and there’d be certainly some indicators.”
Other security experts cautioned against condemning the Australian Security Intelligence Organization — akin to the FBI in the United States — which investigated Naveed Akram six years ago.
“An assessment is a snapshot in time,” said John Coyne, director of national security at Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank. “And that assessment held true for six years.”
It has also prompted swift action from state and federal authorities to enhance Australia’s already tight gun restrictions.
Earlier this week, Albanese convened an emergency meeting of state and federal leaders, who agreed to pass stronger gun control legislation nationwide. And on Wednesday, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said he would recall parliament in the state, where Sydney is located, to do just that.
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