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15 killed, at least 38 others treated in hospitals after 2 shooters fire on Hanukkah celebration at Australia’s most popular beach1 suspect dead, another in a coma, were father and son, investigators sayAttack was act of terrorism, says Australian governmentShooter amassed 6 guns legally, PM says
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese proposed tougher national gun laws on Monday after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, leaving at least 15 people dead.
Albanese said he would propose new restrictions, including limiting the number of guns a licensed owner can obtain. His proposals were announced after the authorities revealed that the older of the two gunmen — who were a father and son — had held a gun licence for a decade and amassed his six guns legally.
“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” Albanese told reporters.
“People’s circumstances can change. People can be radicalized over a period of time. Licences should not be in perpetuity,” he added.
At least 38 people were being treated in hospitals after the massacre on Sunday, when the two shooters fired indiscriminately on the beachfront festivities. Those killed ranged from 10 to 87 years old and included a young girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor.
Among those confirmed dead was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the family Hanukkah event that was targeted, according to Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach worldwide.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen but gave no further details. French President Emmanuel Macron said a French citizen, identified as Dan Elkayam, was among those killed.
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‘He’s a national hero’: Sydney residents praise man who intervened in Australian shooting
People in Sydney, Australia, praised Ahmed al-Ahmed after he was identified as the bystander who charged a gunman during a mass shooting event, praising his bravery for rushing into a dangerous situation. Al-Ahmed’s family has said he is in hospital after surgery for bullet wounds.
Larisa Kleytman told reporters outside St. Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney that her husband, Alexander Kleytman, was among the dead. The couple were both Holocaust survivors, according to The Australian newspaper.
Gun laws changed after 1996 mass shooting
The horror at Australia’s most popular beach was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun laws primarily aimed at removing rapid-fire rifles from circulation. Albanese called the massacre an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.
He pledged swift change, planning on Monday afternoon to present his gun law proposals to a national cabinet meeting that includes state leaders. Some of the measures would also require state legislation.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the massacre an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation. (Lukas Coch/Reuters)
“Some laws are Commonwealth and some laws are implemented by the states,” the Australian leader said. “What we want to do is to make sure that we’re all completely on the same page.”
Christopher Minns, premier of New South Wales, where Sydney is the state capital, agreed with Albanese that gun licences should not be granted in perpetuity.
Minns said his state’s gun laws would change but he could not yet detail how.
“It means introducing a bill to Parliament to — I mean to be really blunt — make it more difficult to get these horrifying weapons that have no practical use in our community,” Minns told reporters.
“If you’re not a farmer, you’re not involved in agriculture, why do you need these massive weapons that put the public in danger and make life dangerous and difficult for New South Wales Police?” Minns asked.
Australia’s gun laws were revised after a 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, centre, gestures while beside Kellie Sloane, right, leader of the opposition, the New South Wales Liberal Party, as they prepare to lay wreaths at a tribute for shooting victims outside the Bondi Pavilion at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Monday. (Mark Baker/The Associated Press)Concerns about antisemitic acts since 2023
Meanwhile, the massacre provoked questions about whether Albanese and his government had done enough to curb rising antisemitism. Jewish leaders and the massacre’s survivors expressed fear and fury as they questioned why the men hadn’t been detected before they opened fire.
“There’s been a heap of inaction,” said Lawrence Stand, a Sydney man who raced to a bar mitzvah celebration in Bondi when the violence erupted to find his 12-year-old daughter. “But the people were warned about this…. And still not enough has been done by our government.”
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Bondi Beach shooting a ‘new and terrible low’ in antisemitic attacks, rabbi says
Rabbi Benjamin Elton, whose Sydney synagogue is near the site of the Bondi Beach attack, says the mass shooting comes amid an ‘antisemitic onslaught’ over the past two years. He says governments in Australia of all levels must step up to protect their Jewish citizens.
Alex Ryvchin, spokesperson for the Australian Council of Executive Jewry, told reporters gathered on Monday near the site of the massacre that he thought the government “has made a number of missteps on antisemitism.”
“I think when an attack such as what we saw yesterday takes place, the paramount and fundamental duty of government is the protection of its citizens, so there’s been an immense failure.”
The Australian government has enacted various measures — including appointing a special envoy to combat antisemitism, toughening laws and investing in enhanced security for Jewish schools and synagogues — to counter a surge in antisemitism since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza. Those incidents saw synagogues and cars torched, and businesses and homes hit with graffiti.
Of Australia’s 28 million people, about 117,000 are Jewish, according to official figures.
1 suspect dead, the other in a coma
Little was publicly confirmed about the men. Police said they were a father and son but wouldn’t supply their names.
The father, 50, who was shot dead, had a gun licence that allowed him to legally acquire the six firearms recovered from his property and also held a gun club membership, New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon said.
A police officer removes police tape from outside the house of the suspects of Sunday’s shooting at Bondi Beach near Sydney. (Alasdair Pal/Reuters)
The particular gun licence he held entitled an adult with a “genuine reason” to own a rifle or shotgun. Accepted reasons include target shooting, recreational hunting and vermin control. Self-defence is not an accepted reason.
The man arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, authorities said, and was an Australian resident when he died. Officials wouldn’t confirm what country he had migrated from.
His 24-year-old Australian-born son, who was shot and wounded, was in a coma at a hospital on Monday. Lanyon said the man “may well” face criminal charges and police wouldn’t divulge what they knew about him to avoid marring a prosecution case against him.
Albanese confirmed that Australia’s main domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, had investigated the son for six months in 2019.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that ASIO had examined the son’s ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State group cell. Albanese did not describe the associates but said ASIO was interested in them rather than the son.
“He was examined on the basis of being associated with others and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” Albanese said.