Just nowSun 21 Dec 2025 at 8:36amGovernor-general reads a message from King Charles
Governor-General Sam Mostyn has described the shootings as an unspeakable barbarism and says the community is yet to process the acts of heroism and bravery by those at Bondi last week.
“As your governor-general, I join all Australians in rejecting antisemitism,” she told the crowd.
“And I recommit my solidarity with Jewish Australians in a spirit of love, belonging, gratitude and unity.
“You have always been a vital part of Australia’s story of success and belonging.”
(ABC News)
She touches on the Holocaust and the lessons that must be learnt about antisemitism.
“We’ll always remember the names of the beloved ones who died here and those who fought with courage to save lives and end the violence.”
She reads a message from King Charles, in which he says he and his wife’s hearts go out to all Australians.
Charles also commends emergency services and members of the public who tried to help.
7m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 8:29am
Jewish community ‘unbreakable’
David Ossip says while the tragedy at Bondi has left the Australian Jewish community shattered, it is now determined to “build back bigger and better … proud of who we are and more united”.
“We have seen the strength and resilience of the Jewish community. Our community. Who refused to retreat or cower or become consumed by vengeance,” he says.
“We, the Jewish people, are unbreakable. Resilience is in our veins!”
(ABC News)
14m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 8:22am
Ossip backs calls for royal commission
David Ossip used his speech to endorse the NSW government’s calls for a royal commission into last Sunday’s terror attack at Bondi.
He says the inquiry needs to take place on a federal scale.
“Whilst we are all in shock, and deeply sad, we are not surprised,” Ossip tells the crowd.
“We feared and suspected that this moment was coming.
“And whilst a catastrophe such as that which we experienced last week would be a tragedy if it was unexpected, how much more tragic is it that the loss of life occurred despite all the warning signs being there?
“On that note, it cannot be disputed that we need a royal commission which goes beyond New South Wales to get to the bottom of how this catastrophe took place. And that must include the Commonwealth.”
21m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 8:15amCrowd applauds hero Ahmed Al Ahmed
David Ossip has called out Ahmed Al Ahmed’s heroism in tackling one of the Bondi gunmen last Sunday.
The crowd breaks out in loud applause as Ossip describes how Ahmed’s “unbelievable bravery saved so many lives last week”.
“I spent time with Ahmed this morning, and his father is here with us tonight.
“Friends, Ahmed has asked me to pass on the following message to us all:
“The Lord is close to the broken hearted. Today I stand with you, my brothers and sisters. Thank you, my brothers and sisters.”
“Thank you, Ahmed!”
Crowds applauded Ahmed Al Ahmed’s bravery and his father who was at the memorial. (ABC News)25m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 8:12amPM booed, NSW premier Minns praised in Jewish leader’s opening address
President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, David Ossip, is delivering the opening address to the ceremony.
He thanks the crowd for attending and showing their solidarity with the Jewish community.
Ossip acknowledges the presence of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a remark met by loud boos from the crowd.
The crowd cheers loudly at the mention of NSW Premier Chris Minns.
36m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 8:00am
Police boat part of security detail
This image from ABC reporter Kathleen Calderwood, who is at Bondi Beach, shows a NSW Police boat in the distance keeping watch from the ocean.
(ABC News: Kathleen Calderwood)
41m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:56am
John Howard is in attendance
Former prime minister John Howard is also at Bondi.
There was applause from the crowd when he arrived.
(ABC News: Jack Fisher)44m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:52amMourners observe minute’s silence
The vigil at Bondi Beach has just begun with the crowd standing for a minute of silence.
It’s a sombre atmosphere there this evening.
46m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:51amPrime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives at Bondi vigil
Anthony Albanese has arrived at Bondi Beach for this evening’s vigil.
Some parts of the crowd could be heard booing as he arrived.
(ABC News: Jack Fisher)
(ABC News: Che Chorley)58m agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:38am📷: Crowds gathering at Bondi event
Our photographer Che Chorley is at the memorial event at Bondi.
Crowds are gathering for ceremonies including a special minute’s silence to commemorate a week since the attack at 6:47pm AEDT.
(ABC News: Che Chorley)
(ABC News: Che Chorley)
Security at the event is high, with police snipers poised on rooftops overlooking the event.
(ABC News: Che Chorley)
1h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:35am
How are you honouring the victims of Bondi?
As the nation pauses today to honour those affected by the Bondi attack, we’d like to reflect what it looks like around the country through your images and stories.
How will you reflect on this tragedy? Are you attending an event? Are you lighting a candle?
Let us know via this form.
1h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:32am
Crowd files in ahead of vigil
Attendees at tonight’s vigil and commemoration for victims and survivors of the Bondi Beach massacre arranged by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies have begin to arrive.
Nadia Vlassov ahead of the vigil. (ABC News: Kathleen Calderwood)
Nadia Vlassov was at Chanukah by the Sea with her family a week ago when the shooting broke out. She said pretty much everyone near her at the petting zoo was either killed or injured.
She said she was reluctant to come to the vigil but wanted to be there for her close friend Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in the attack.
“We’re being strong for our friends and for ourselves, holding each other together,” she told the ABC.
She said her four-year-old son constantly asks why they were shot at.
“I just say, ‘You’re safe now, we’re all safe, we’re together,'” she said.
“We hold him every day and hug him every day.”
Michael Lubrainschik will attend tonight’s vigil. (ABC News: Kathleen Calderwood)
Michael Lubrainschik said he thinks community cohesion in Australia has been “shattered”.
“Terrible damage has been done,” he said.
“It’s been done by a small group of people who have no respect for life or for building things. Their mission is simply to destroy and to die and I think that’s tragic and I don’t have an easy answer other than education to beat it.”
1h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:27am
More pictures from the Brisbane vigil
A line for Brisbane’s Bondi vigil has snaked around the entire King George Square as hundreds of people arrive to pay their respects.
(ABC News: Stephen Cavenagh)
There was a visible police presence at the event. (ABC News: Stephen Cavenagh)
Simon Foster’s four grandparents were Holocaust survivors who came to Australia for a better life. He grew up in Sydney and knows Bondi well.
In 51 years, Mr Foster says he never experienced any antisemitism. But in the last two years, that has changed.
“I’ve never been afraid to identify as Jewish publicly, since the last two years,” he said.
Carron and Sim Foster (ABC News: Eden Gillespie)
He and his partner, Carron, came to the vigil today to stand against hate.
Their son knew two victims of the terrorist attack in Bondi.
“The events of Sunday, we just felt this need to be with community,” Carron said.
“It’s just that feeling of being with the community, being connected. Shouting out to the world that we’re stronger than our enemies, you can’t stop us, that we won’t let that light diminish.
“If we don’t stop this it’s not just the Jewish community that will be impacted.”
Flowers have been placed alongside photos of the Bondi victims. (ABC News: Eden Gillespie)1h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:13amVigil begins in Canberra
Nine hundred people have registered to attend the Jewish Community Candlelight Memorial and Chanukah gathering in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra.
TV monitors have also been set up in the marble foyer to accommodate additional visitors.
Rabbi Schmueli Feldman is the MC for the event.
Rabbi Schmueli Feldman (ABC News: Adrienne Francis)
Uma and Krishna Hamal are attending in solidarity with the Canberra Jewish community.
Krishna is the patron of the Federation of Nepalese Community Associations of Australia.
“We are very sorry to see the untimely loss of members of the Jewish community one week ago in Sydney,” he said.
“We condemn this terrorist attack on innocent people, and we call upon the government to create new policies and programs to prevent such activities and heavily punish those responsible for such acts and those who promote hate in the community.
“We also extend our sincere condolences to families and loved ones of the victims and also pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.
“We are with the Jewish community in this period of sorrow and bereavement.”
Uma and Krishna Hamal (ABC News: Adrienne Francis)1h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 7:00amCrowds scanned amid high security ahead of vigil
(ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri)
There’s a heightened police and visible security presence at the community vigil and surrounding areas at Bondi Beach.
Hundreds of people have been scanned before entering the event.
Police Commissioner Mal Laynon has insisted it does not reflect a heightened security alert but is about safeguarding the space for a respectful vigil.
“You will see more officers than usual, including some carrying long-arm firearms,” Lanyon said.
“While our priority is keeping the community safe, it is equally about helping people feel safe as they come together to grieve.”
The service caps off a national day of reflection, which falls on the final full day of Hanukkah.
1h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 6:48am
Queenslanders urged to stamp out hate
Hundreds of people, including Queensland Premier David Crisafulli and community leaders from a range of faiths, are gathering for a vigil at Brisbane’s City Hall.
Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies president Jason Steinberg said the pain would take some time to heal.
“I don’t think we see it getting any better,” he said.
“It’s a very deep wound that we have, and what we’ll be calling on today is for everyone in Queensland, no matter who they are, to stamp out hate, to stamp out antisemitism when they see it.
“But every flower, every text, every phone call, every hug that we’ve had has brought light to such darkness.”
(ABC News: Alex Brewster)
1h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 6:38am
‘We’ve been tragically, unforgivably let down’
During his appearance on ABC News’ Weekend Breakfast program this morning, Alex Ryvchin, from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, was asked about the sweeping reforms announced by the state and federal governments this week.
He said the response “hasn’t brought a great deal of comfort to the community”, which is “too steeped in our grief and sorrow to worry about policy solutions”.
Though, he questioned why the discussion was only taking place now.
“If these policies were sensible, and just, and implementable, why did it take the slaughter of 15 people to be put into place?” he said.
“Why wasn’t it enough when we had a summer of firebombings attacking synagogues and childcare centres and people’s homes?
“Why wasn’t it enough when we learned that the Iranian regime was coordinating attacks on Australian soil?”
Ryvchin said there was no feeling of celebration or vindication in the Jewish community.
“There’s a feeling that something should have been done a long time ago, and we’ve been tragically, unforgivably let down.”
2h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 6:26am
Hindu and Jewish communities hold joint vigil
Elsewhere in Perth, the Hindu and Jewish communities have joined together to pray for peace in the wake of the Bondi attack
“We stand united in grief, solidarity and resolve,” organiser Praveena Mittal told the event at the Temple David synagogue.
“Our histories remind us that hatred left unchecked can endanger not only targeted communities but the modern foundation of society itself.”
The Jewish and Hindu communities came together for a vigil. (ABC News: keane Bourke)
At the event’s conclusion, attendees laid flowers and lit candles in memory of those who lost their lives.
“I think today, this hour, will be one of the strongest moments of my life,” member of Temple David synagogue, Hilary Silbert, said.
“Out of the darkness the other day, then this shows massive positivity in the future,” she told the ABC after the event.
2h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 6:15am
Bondi heroes remembered at Melbourne vigil
A multi-faith community vigil has been held at the St Peter’s Church hall in East Melbourne.
Flowers and wreaths were laid at the vigil. (ABC News)
It was organised by the Victorian Multicultural Commission and attended by Victoria’s Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Ingrid Stitt.
“This attack violates everything we all hold dear about what it is to be Australian – the freedom to celebrate culture and practise faith peacefully free from fear, free from hate and free from violence,” she said.
Minister Ingrid Stitt lights a candle at the vigil. (ABC News)
Jewish Community Council of Victoria chief executive Naomi Levin read the names of the victims of the Bondi shootings.
She then focused on Reuven Morrison who died after charging at and throwing an object at one of the gunman.
“I’ve never been to the funeral of a hero,” she said.
“Reuven’s final act was nothing but selfless.”
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria’s Naomi Levin (ABC News)
She also praised a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the leg while protecting two young children whose parents had been injured during the shooting.
2h agoSun 21 Dec 2025 at 5:57am
Hundreds attend Perth vigil
In Perth, hundreds gathered for a community vigil at King’s Park — underneath a memorial dedicated to Jewish Australians who died defending Australia at war — to remember the 15 killed at Bondi.
Under the watch of state and federal police, the crowd – many wearing white to symbolise the light they wanted to see in the world – joined in a powerful rendition of ‘We are Australian’.
Many of the crowd wore white at the vigil (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Earlier, WA President of the National Council of Jewish Women, Iara Morris, said: “It has unfortunately felt like antisemitism has become a way of life in Australia”.
“In the wake of the Bondi massacre, and the hatred Jewish people face every day, I ask you to bring light and love into the world,” she said.
“Speak out against the hate which exists, call out antisemitism when you see it.”
An emotional WA Liberal senator, Michaelia Cash, also addressed the crowd – at times through tears – as she reflected on the impact rising antisemitism has had on the Jewish community.
“Australia will never be the same after Bondi but … we can decide together what happens next,” she said.
“We can choose unity over division. We can choose courage over cowardice, and we can choose action over excuses.”