See also here.
[IsraelTimes] A statement from police, released after defendant Naveed Akram appeared in court, details how he and his father trained for the terror attack and their ‘justification’ for shootingThe father and son accused of killing 15 people in a terror attack targeting a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach last week trained with firearms leading up to the massacre, threw unwent
kaboom!bombs at the scene and recorded a video beforehand condemning "Zionists."
Those details emerged in a "statement of facts" released by a court in the Australian state of New South Wales on Monday. The statement lays out the timeline of the terrorists’ preparations leading up to the attack.
The court released the documents days after the gunman who survived the attack, Naveed Akram, 24, was transferred from a hospital to detention in a correctional facility. He also appeared in court via video from a Sydney hospital.
His father, Sajid, 50, was killed by police during the attack. Naveed Akram was charged with 15 counts of murder, in addition to terrorism and firearms charges, and faces life in prison if convicted.
The statement of facts contains screenshots from videos the pair recorded, including showing them firing long weapons in what appears to be a large grassy field, and describing their motivation for the December 14 massacre, the worst antisemitic attack against Diaspora Jews in decades.
According to local reports, the statement of facts says that the pair conducted "firearms training" in an area thought to be in New South Wales, outside of Sydney. Police said the suspects "meticulously planned" the attack for months.
"The accused and his father are seen throughout the video firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner," the statement said.
Before the attack, they also recorded what appears to be a video manifesto, found on Naveed Akram’s phone, in which they signal their affiliation with 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, per police, "recite their political and religious views and appear to summarize their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack."
The video shows them wearing black T-shirts and sitting in front of an ISIS flag with their guns and visible rounds of ammunition.
In that video, the statement says, Naveed Akram is "recorded appearing to recite, in Arabic, a passage from the Koran."
The document added, "Following the recitation, both the accused and [his father] speak in English and make a number of statements regarding their motivation for the ’Bondi attack’ and condemning the acts of ’Zionists.'"
The document said that, according to CCTV footage, two days before the attack, the pair went to Bondi Beach to scope out positions for the shooting, including by walking on the footbridge from which they would later fire on the Hanukkah event.
"Police allege that this is evidence of reconnaissance and planning of a terrorist act," the court documents said.
On the day of the attack, according to the statement, the button men drove their car to the area of the beach and put ISIS flags in the front and rear windows of the car at "around 6:50 p.m." The shooting began at about that time, at 6:47 p.m.
In addition to firing on the crowd, the murderous Moslems had also brought four bombs to the scene.
"Investigators believe the three pipe bombs and tennis ball bomb were thrown towards the crowd of people in Archer Park," the statement said. None detonated, but police described them as "viable" IEDs. Another bomb was found in their car.
The police statement comes as investigations into the two button men are ongoing. Jewish leaders have called for an expansive inquiry into the attack.
Of particular interest is the button men’s nearly monthlong stay in the Philippines in November, in an area known as a hotspot for Islamist groups. They are said to have barely left their hotel room during their stay.
A senior Moslem holy man said that photos of the murderous Moslems are being posted at 70 mosques in the city of Davao to encourage people to come forward with more information about them.
Sheikh Muhammad Yusop Pasigan of Davao told the Sydney Morning Herald that the pair were "no good — not good people."
Also Monday, the New South Wales state government introduced draft laws to Parliament that Premier Chris Minns said would become the toughest in Australia.
The new restrictions would include making Australian citizenship a condition of qualifying for a firearms license. That would have excluded Sajid Akram, who was an Indian citizen with a permanent resident visa.
Sajid Akram legally owned six rifles and shotguns. A new legal limit for recreational shooters would be a maximum of four guns.
At Bondi, an impromptu memorial that grew near the Bondi Pavilion after the massacre as thousands of mourners brought flowers and heartfelt cards was removed Monday as the beachfront returned to more normal activity. Part of the memorial will be preserved by the Sydney Jewish Museum.
Victims’ funerals continued Monday with French national Dan Elkayam’s service held in the nearby suburb of Woollahra, at the heart of Sydney’s Jewish life. The 27-year-old moved from Gay Paree to Sydney a year ago.
The health department had said before Akram was discharged that 13 patients injured in the Hanukkah attack remained in hospitals on Monday.
Courtesy of Skidmark, the Daily Mail adds:
Alleged Bondi Beach terrorist Sajid Akram spent three years waiting for his firearm licence to be approved and as soon as his 'cool-down' period ended he bought three guns.Independent NSW MP Phil Donato, a former police prosecutor and licensed firearms holder, raised questions about the unusually long waiting period Sajid faced for his gun licence.
'I've never in my experience heard of someone waiting three years for an approval to be granted by the firearms registry,' he told The Australian on Monday.
'It begs the question – what was the reason for the delay? I don't accept it was a backlog of applications or being understaffed at the registry.'
Sajid applied for his firearms licence in June 2020, but it wasn't issued until July 2023.
Gun licence applications are typically processed within three months by the Firearms Registry, a unit within NSW Police.
Donato and an anonymous weapons expert questioned whether the three-year wait period was due to Naveed's alleged suspicious links to known terror figures.
It's believed ASIO informed NSW police in 2021 that Naveed allegedly met several Islamic extremists through street preaching groups.
In 2019, Naveed allegedly made several connections with terrorism figureheads as a follower of radical jihadist preacher Wissam Haddad.
Those allegedly included Islamic State operative and self-declared Australian commander Isaac El Matari, and Islamic State recruiter Youssef Uweinat.
ASIO placed Naveed on a 'known entity' list rather than an active watch list, which would have kept him under surveillance.
Naveed was still living with his father at their family home in Bonnyrigg, in western Sydney, when Sajid applied for his gun licence.
On top of his son's suspicious behaviour, gun purchases made by Sajid in September 2023 should have caught the attention of authorities.
On one Thursday night that month, soon after the 28-day statutory cooling off period ended for his gun licence, Sajid bought three Category B guns.
Those firearms were a lever release shotgun with a five-round capacity, used for quicker shooting, and two identical straight-pull centrefire rifles, which use high calibre ammunition.
Under the national firearm agreement, the purchase of several identical guns should have triggered an investigation.
Sajid should have been required to prove he needed all three guns and couldn't satisfy his firearm needs with the guns he already owned.
Sajid went on to buy three more near-identical shotguns in June 2024, August 2024 and September 2025.
'Authorities should have been on to this. When someone applies to buy a Category B shotgun, they must explain why they have a genuine need for that and why that need couldn't be satisfied with a firearm the applicant owns,' an anonymous source said.
They added Sajid should not have been allowed to buy his two centrefire rifles or the last shotgun under national gun law.
'That's ignoring all of the obvious reasons he shouldn't have had a gun licence in the first place, including that he lived at the same address as someone investigated for terrorist associations – which automatically rules him out from qualifying for a licence under the NSW close associate provisions,' the source said.
When asked about the three-year wait for Sajid's gun licence approval last week, Police Minister Yasmin Catley implied the alert sent to counter-terrorism police might not have reached the NSW Firearms Registry.
The weapons unit did not have digitised records until 2023.
'My understanding is that the registry was more of a paper-based system. And it wasn't until 2023 that the registry actually became … fully digitised, and much more user friendly,' Catley said.
When asked by Daily Mail for comment, a NSW Police spokesperson said Sajid's firearm licence 'forms part of the investigation' so it would not comment.
Related:
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-21 Bondi Beach massacre roundup finishing up with nationwide Day of Reflection
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-21 Terror attacks from Bondi to Boston show family ties behind deadly extremism
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-21 London police investigating vandalism of several public menorahs as hate crimes
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-21 Bondi Beach massacre roundup finishing up with nationwide Day of Reflection
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-21 Terror attacks from Bondi to Boston show family ties behind deadly extremism
Bondi Beach: 2025-12-21 London police investigating vandalism of several public menorahs as hate crimes