Australian Jews had gathered on Sunday on Sydney’s Bondi Beach to mark Hanukkah, one of the most joyful and family-friendly Jewish holidays, when two gunmen started firing into a crowd.
At least 11 people were killed in the mass shooting, according to the authorities. One of the shooters was also killed.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian.”
The mass shooting came at a time when Australia’s Jewish community was already on edge, after enduring a series of alarming antisemitic attacks.
Some Jewish organizations say the episodes intensified after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in Gaza, which have also spurred Islamophobic episodes in Australia.
“Our figures for antisemitic incidents are off the scale — of a level that we’ve never seen in the more than 30 years that we’ve been monitoring and collecting data,” Daniel Aghion, the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told Sky News on Sunday, noting the recent spate of arson attacks.
“The last two years have been horrific for us,” he added, noting the rising instances of antisemitism around the world.
Australia is home to the largest proportion of Holocaust survivors outside Israel. Late last year, the Australian police formed a federal task force to investigate antisemitic violence and threats.
In August, Australia accused Iran of directing arson attacks against a Jewish business and a synagogue. It severed diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats from Australian soil.
And in the past 12 months, synagogues in Sydney and Melbourne have been targeted with attempted arson and graffiti. Other Jewish institutions, including a day care center and an Israeli restaurant, have also been attacked.
“How many times did we warn the Government?” the Australian Jewish Association said on Sunday in a post on Facebook. “We never felt once that they listened.”
Amelia Nierenberg is a Times reporter covering international news from London.
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