by Mikhail Kolovangin
[REGNUM] What should have been a day of light and joy for Sydney's Jewish community turned into one of the darkest chapters in Australia's modern history.
On the first day of Hanukkah,
| …it was actually the first night. Jewish holidays start the evening before, in accordance with the description of the Creation in Genesis: “It was evening and it was morning, the first day,” and so forth for each of the six days that God laboured, and the seventh day on which he rested... |
The attack on the famous Bondi Beach became the deadliest mass shooting in the country since the Port Arthur tragedy in 1995.
This event not only took the lives of innocent people, but also called into question the effectiveness of the state's security system and migration policy.
CHRONICLE OF THE MASSACRE
The tragedy unfolded in Archer Park, adjacent to Bondi Beach, where a large crowd had gathered to celebrate. At 6:47 PM local time, police and emergency services received the first reports of gunfire.
Footage that quickly went viral on social media showed a horrific scene: two armed men opened fire on the celebrating crowd.
This was not a random shooting, but a targeted extermination of people who had come to celebrate a religious holiday.
In addition to firearms, the terrorists also prepared explosives. Bomb experts later defused two improvised explosive devices at the crime scene. On December 15, police reported the discovery of a third explosive device in the same area.
Amidst the chaos and death, there was also room for true heroism.
Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit vendor, made an act that likely saved countless lives. Video footage shows him attacking one of the gunmen from behind, knocking him down, and disarming him as gunfire continued to ring out around him.
Volunteer rescuers from a nearby club were the first to rush to the aid of the victims, risking their own lives to save the wounded.
FACES OF TRAGEDY
The attack claimed the lives of at least 16 people, including one of the attackers.
People of all ages and backgrounds fell victim to the terrorists. For example, Alexander Kleitman was evacuated from Nazi-encircled Odessa as a child; in 1992, he emigrated to the peaceful and safe Australia; and on that fateful day, December 14, 2025, he shielded his own wife from the assassin's bullets.
Also among the dead was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a London native. The youngest victim was a 10-year-old girl, Matilda. Her family asked that her last name not be published to protect her privacy.
42 people were taken to hospitals.
As of 1:00 PM on December 15, 27 people remained in Sydney hospitals: six in critical condition, six in serious but stable condition, and 15 in stable condition. Among the injured were two police officers.
FAMILY BUSINESS
Police officially classified the attack as a terrorist act. The perpetrators were identified as a father and son.
The head of the family, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was shot by police and died at the scene.
It turned out that the criminal had a license to own a weapon and legally possessed six firearms.
Sajid arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, then obtained a partner visa and subsequently applied for three permanent resident visas.
His accomplice in the crime was his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram. He was born in Australia and is an Australian citizen. He sustained critical injuries during the shootout and was taken to the hospital, where he remains under heavy police guard.
The country's authorities confirmed that the family had already come to the attention of the security services.
According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Naveed Akram came to the attention of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) as early as October 2019 due to his connections, but was not considered an "immediate threat" at the time.
Albanese called the attack "an act of pure evil."
"An act of terror, an act of anti-Semitism. An attack on the first day of Hanukkah, targeting the Jewish community. A dark day in Australian history that should have been a day of light," he said.
| Yes, well His Excellency, the Prime Minister had long since demonstrated that the safety of Australia’s Jewish citizens is of no importance whatsoever when weighed against the necessity of demonstrating Australia’s morally superior sensitivity to the outrage of all right thinking people about the fact that white colonizer Israel continues to exist. |
The Bondi Beach attack will inevitably lead to tectonic shifts in Australian society and politics.
| Wanna bet? |
| His Excellency, the Prime Minister did say that’s necessary, instead of demanding that the Jews be armed so they can defend themselves when the police freeze in terror. Never one to miss an opportunity, that PM. |
| To be fair, when Mossad pointed out an Iranian network in Australia recently, the ASIO cleaned it out. The fact that they continually ignored explicit warning from Mossad and Jewish-Australian organizations that domestic Sunni Muslims were planning additional attacks shows a deliberate blind spot that goes well beyond the borders of Australian Intelligence |
The Sydney tragedy is becoming a powerful political argument for Israel, confirming its key narratives on the international stage. Naturally, the country's authorities are exploiting the tragedy to their own advantage.
Israeli intelligence services immediately voiced the theory about a possible “Iranian connection.”
According to Israeli media, Tehran has long been engaged in subversive activities against the Jewish diaspora, using both arms smuggling and social media to incite violence.
However, no direct evidence linking the shooters to Iran has been presented to the public.
Nevertheless, the Sydney massacre has become convenient political fuel for the Israeli media. Major media outlets are already waving the tragedy like a flag, calling for harsh strikes against Iran, without waiting for the investigators' findings.
Official Tehran denied the attack and even condemned it, but in Israel, such denials are routinely ignored. As a result, a remote Australian beach has become a new front line in the wider Middle East war, where any incident serves to accelerate the escalation.
| More from MSN-the Daily Mail: |
Police have removed a woman from a memorial vigil for the Bondi Beach terror attack after she launched into a pro-Paleostine protest and made anti-Israel comments. As officers escorted her away, she shouted accusations that others were politicising the tragedy and demanded Israeli flags be taken down. The protester, who was wearing a Paleostinian keffiyeh scarf, was heckled by hundreds in the crowd, with chants of 'get her out.'
She later told the media that she was Jewish and believed she had a right to protest at the vigil.
| Perhaps. I don’t know Australia's laws about such things, But it was incredibly selfish and rude. |
| So? Lots of Jews lost relatives in the Holocaust, including one of the murdered. You are not special, madame. |
| No. She did, by protesting. |
'It was a disgrace and I know the community here reacted how they should.'
One mourner told Daily Mail: 'This was meant to be a quiet moment of reflection, people were grieving, and suddenly it just descended into chaos.’
The vigil drew many from the Jewish community following a deadly attack where two button men killed 16 people at a Hanukkah event being held at the beach.
So far 16 people have died, including alleged gunman Sajid Akram, while a further 42 people, including four children, were taken to hospital.
Police confirmed 14 people had died at the scene, while two others died overnight in hospital, with the victims ranging in age between 10 and 87 years old.
As of Monday, there were five people at death's door, including two coppers - a constable and a probationary constable who was repeatedly shot in the face.
| Next time don’t freeze. It allows the shooter time to aim at you. Even more from MSN-The Telegraph: |
Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian national who served in the police, said: “I’m going to die … tell my family I saved people’s lives,” before he charged at one of the shooters and wrestled away his rifle.
Mr al-Ahmad, a 43-year-old father of two, remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery for multiple gunshot wounds.
Outside the hospital on Monday morning Jozay Alkanj, told reporters of his cousin’s bravery, saying: “He said: ‘I’m going to die, please see my family and tell them that I went down to save people’s lives.’”
Mr al-Ahmed’s father said his son served “with the police and under central security forces” and had “the impulse to protect people”. It was not clear if he had served in the police in Syria or in Australia.
Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed said: “When he saw people lying on the ground and the blood everywhere, immediately his conscience and his soul compelled him to pounce on one of the terrorists. I feel proud and honoured, because my son is a hero of Australia.”
Mustafa al-Asaad, a cousin of the hero, said: “When he saw people dying and their families being shot, he couldn’t bear to see people dying. It was a humanitarian act, more than anything else.”
Mr al-Ahmed, the father of two young daughters, arrived in Australia from Idlib, Syria, in 2006. His parents had only recently joined him in Sydney after years of separation.
A GoFundMe campaign established for Mr al-Ahmed’s recovery raised more than 1m Australian dollars (£496,000) within hours. Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager, contributed nearly $100,000 and shared the fundraiser on social media.
Mr al-Ahmed, who owns a fruit shop in the Sydney suburb of Sutherland, was shot four to five times in his shoulder, arm and hand after seizing the gunman’s rifle from behind, according to his family.
Video footage widely shared on social media showed the Australian citizen hiding behind parked cars before rushing towards the gunman, leaping on him and taking the weapon from his hands.
Social media footage showed Naveed Akram, one of the alleged attackers, using what appeared to be a Beretta BRX1 straight-pull hunting rifle. Experts said his shooting technique revealed prior training. The suspect’s tactical reload, sight alignment, and target transitions suggested he had undergone firearms instruction before carrying out the terror attack.
Mr Al-ahmed’s father said his son was having coffee with a friend when he heard gunshots ring out. He added that his son would have acted to protect anyone, regardless of their background.
“When he did what he did, he wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving,” he said. “He doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another.”
Mr al-Ahmed’s mother told ABC: “He saw they were dying, and people were losing their lives, and when that guy ran out of ammo, he took it from him, but he was hit. We pray that God saves him.”
Mr Alkanji said Mr al-Ahmed underwent surgery on Monday and faced two to three more procedures at St George Hospital in Kogarah.
| The Times of Israel: |
The suspects traveled to the Philippines last month, said Mal Lanyon, the Police Commissioner for New South Wales state. Their reasons for the trip and where in the Philippines they went would be probed by Sherlocks, Lanyon said.
He also confirmed that a vehicle removed from the scene, registered to the younger suspect, contained improvised bombs.
"I also confirm that it contained two homemade ISIS flags," Lanyon said.
The Philippines’ immigration department confirmed the two perpetrators spent nearly the entire month of November in the country, with the father entering the country as an "Indian national."
Immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told AFP they departed on November 28, with the southern province of Davao listed as their final destination.
Groups of Moslem separatist turbans, including Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
in the southern Philippines, once expressed support for the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group and have hosted small numbers of foreign turban combatants from Asia, the Middle East, and Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
in the past.
Decades of military offensives, however, have considerably weakened Abu Sayyaf and other such gangs, and Philippine military and police officials say there has been no recent indication of any foreign forces of Evil in the country’s south.
Statement on Bondi Beach Chanukah terrorist attack – Government has blood on its hands
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) December 15, 2025
The AJA joins the entire Australian Jewish community in mourning the tragic loss of lives in the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on the first night of Chanukah. The Jewish community is small… pic.twitter.com/KbMaafH5uP
When Australia recognised a non-existent 'State of Palestine', Rabbi Eli Schlanger wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to "rescind this act of betrayal"
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) December 14, 2025
Albanese ignored Rabbi Schlanger and today the Rabbi is dead.
Anti-Israel hate and lies fuel attacks on… pic.twitter.com/UdI3XvM5IM
| When they tell you who their enemies are, believe them: |
🚨 WTF?! After Islamic terrorists KILLED 15 people in Australia, the prime minister warns about "right-wing extremist groups"
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 15, 2025
You've GOT to be kidding me.
If the threat was right-wingers, trust me, YOU'D KNOW. pic.twitter.com/fB7JYUewue
| Update from Townhall at 12:20 p.m. ET, courtesy of Grom the Affective: After Failing to Engage Bondi Beach Terrorists, Guess Who the Australian Police Did Shoot. Hint: it’s the Syrian refugee who disarmed the first gunman, Ahmed Al Ahmad. |
Related:
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-15 Day 2: 15 Jews dead, 40 wounded by ISIS-linked father and son from Pakistan in massacre on Sidney’s Bondi Beach during Hanukkah celebration
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-14 Death toll climbs toTEN Twelve in Bondi Beach terror attack and a home-made BOMB is uncovered by cops after two gunmen opened fire on innocent beachgoers during Jewish festival
Bondi Beach: 2008-03-05 Global Warming Alert: Sydney's Coolest Summer in 50 Years
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-15 Day 2: 15 Jews dead, 40 wounded by ISIS-linked father and son from Pakistan in massacre on Sidney’s Bondi Beach during Hanukkah celebration
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-14 Death toll climbs to
Bondi Beach: 2008-03-05 Global Warming Alert: Sydney's Coolest Summer in 50 Years