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| Down Under | |
| Bondi Beach massacre roundup finishing up with nationwide Day of Reflection | |
| 2025-12-21 | |
| ‘Light over darkness’: Australia marks Day of Reflection for Bondi Hanukkah attack victims [IsraelTimes] Jews and others to light candles on Sunday, observe minute of silence, as tributes pour in; PM orders review of police and intel agencies, to protect a Jewish community that feels let down. Australia’s ‘Bondi Hero’ handed check for $1.65 million collected from fundraising [IsraelTimes] A man credited with saving lives for wrestling a gun from one of the alleged attackers during a terror attack on a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday received a check for more than $2.5 million AUD ($1.65 million USD) on Friday, after tens of thousands of people contributed to a donation website. Ahmed al Ahmed hid behind parked cars before charging at one of the gunmen from behind, seizing his weapon and knocking him to the ground. Ahmed suffered gunshot wounds after apparently being fired on by a second perpetrator and remains in hospital after undergoing surgery. Ahmed, a Muslim father of two, was presented with an oversized check at his St. George hospital bed by Zachery Dereniowski, a social media influencer and co-organizer of the GoFundMe page, videos posted online showed. More than 43,000 people worldwide contributed to the fundraising, including Jewish billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who gave A$99,999 and shared the fundraiser on his X account. Australia’s prime minister and the state premier have visited Ahmed in hospital to praise his bravery. When handed the check, Ahmed asks, “I deserve it?” to which Dereniowski says, “Every penny,” the video shows. When asked what he would say to the people who donated, Ahmed said: “To stand with each other, all human beings. And forget everything bad … and keep going to save life.” “When I saved the people I (did it) from the heart because it was a nice day, everyone enjoying celebrating, with their kids, woman, man, teenager all, everyone was happy and they deserve, they deserve to enjoy,” Ahmed said, raising his uninjured fist in the air. “This country (is the) best country in the world, best country in the world, but we’re not going to stand and keep watching – enough is enough. God protect Australia. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.” The tobacco store owner did not say what he planned to do with the money. Ahmed, 43, left his hometown in Syria’s northwest province of Idlib nearly 20 years ago to seek work in Australia. Fifteen people were killed when father-and-son shooters Sajid and Naveed Akram opened fire on a beachside Hanukkah festival on Sunday evening, in a terror attack authorities have linked to “Islamic State ideology.” Sajid Akram, 50, was killed by police during the attack, but his 24-year-old son, Naveed, survived and was charged on Wednesday with 15 counts of murder, an act of terrorism, and dozens of other serious crimes. Intel further confirms Bondi Hanukkah terror attack was ‘ISIS-inspired,’ says Australian PM [IsraelTimes] Albanese announces gun buyback, and ‘day of reflection’ after terrorists killed 15 people and wounded dozens at Jewish community event; 14-year-old survivor recounts shielding children Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday that online video feed picked up by the country’s intelligence further confirmed that the antisemitic mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday was inspired by the Islamic State terror group. “We’ve been informed that the Office of National Intelligence has identified a regular online video feed from ISIS that reinforces that this was an ISIS-inspired attack,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra, where he also announced a gun buyback plan and a “day of reflection” to embrace the Jewish community on Sunday. Islamic State itself said in a lengthy statement on its Telegram channel that the terror attack on Sunday was a “source of pride” but did not claim responsibility for it. Australian police are investigating whether the terrorists, identified as father-and-son duo Sajid and Naveed Akram, met with Islamist extremists during a visit to the Philippines weeks before the shooting. Meanwhile, Australian police said seven men detained in Sydney’s southwest on Thursday have possible ideological connections to the two terrorists who killed 15 people and wounded dozens at the Jewish community’s candlelighting event at Bondi that marked the first night of Hanukkah. “We don’t have definitive links between the individuals who committed these atrocities on Sunday and this yesterday apart from potential commonality in some thinking, but no associations at this stage,” New South Wales state Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson told ABC Radio on Friday. Investigations are at an initial stage, Hudson said, adding that one of the locations the group was planning to visit was Bondi.
ALBANESE ANNOUNCES ‘DAY OF REFLECTION,’ GUN BUYBACK SET FOR SUNDAY Australian Jewish groups have accused Albanese of failing to take seriously their warnings about antisemitism that has spiked since Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering the Gaza war. Speaking at the press conference on Friday, Albanese said Australia would honor the attack victims and the Jewish community with a “day of reflection” on Sunday, a week after the attack. “This day is about standing with the Jewish community, wrapping our arms around them, and all Australians sharing their grief,” Albanese said. He also announced that Australia will launch a national gun buyback scheme similar to the tough gun laws introduced following the 1996 massacre in Tasmania’s Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people. “Australia’s gun laws were last substantially reformed in the wake of the Port Arthur tragedy. The terrible events at Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets,” Albanese said. “We expect hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected and destroyed through this scheme.”
The elder terrorost, who was killed on the scene, held a firearm license and had six registered guns. If a man in Sydney’s suburbs needs “six high-powered rifles and is able to get them under existing licensing schemes, then there’s something wrong,” said Albanese. An estimated four million firearms are currently in Australia. The government would work with states to target surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms, with the costs to be shared between the federal and state governments, Albanese said. TEEN WOUNDED WHILE SHIELDING TWO CHILDREN On Friday, the community buried Boris and Sofia Gurman, a husband and wife who were killed while trying to thwart one of the terrorists, as more stories of extraordinary bravery came out. As the terrorists opened fire on hundreds of Jewish community members, 14-year-old Chaya Dadon’s mind was clear. Across from where she had taken cover from the gunshots under a bench, Dadon saw two children stranded out in the open, beside their wounded parents. “I knew in that moment, I felt like Hashem was sitting right next to me,” she said in an interview with Reuters, using a Hebrew name for God. “He was whispering into my ear, ‘This is your mission: go save those kids’.” The schoolgirl left the safety of her hiding spot, pulled the children away and jumped on top of them, covering their bodies with her own. At some point, she was shot in the thigh. But she kept shielding them, reciting the Shema, a Jewish prayer. “Her instinct is to save lives while these terrorists are killing people. What a contrast.” Rabbi Yaakov Lieder, grandfather of Chaya Dadon, describes his 14-year-old granddaughter and the inspiring type of person she is. “I knew I got shot, but I wasn’t even worried, I channeled all that energy that I had into strength and I made sure that I knew I had to be there for those kids,” she said. “If I could give up my life saving these children, that’s what I was going to do.” Her father eventually found them and took her to get help. “When he found me, he told me this after, that I had the girl in this arm and the boy in this arm. And I was just kissing them.” Dadon spent four days at the Sydney Children’s Hospital before returning home on Thursday. She is now walking with crutches, which she has decorated with stickers commemorating some of those who were killed. She still does not know the children she shielded, but hopes to connect with them again. “Those little kids that have been through things that no one should have been through,” she said, but the ordeal would make the Jewish community stronger. “Even if they can’t see it now, everyone is going to grow stronger because I really feel like that situation, everyone was tested.”
Eleven minutes of video capture the moment Australia's Bondi Beach turns into a scene of horror. BBC Verify has analysed dozens of videos from the attack and its aftermath, matching them up to map out the movements of the two gunmen, heroic bystanders and the victims. What began as a joyous event for the Jewish community celebrating the beginning of Hanukkah at Sydney's most iconic beach quickly turned into a horrific attack. Meet the Hero Cop Who Single-Handedly Killed the Bondi Beach Terrorists
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