A furious barrage of shots disrupted the calm at Bondi Beach this weekend — killing at least 15 people and leaving many others critically injured. Australia saw one of its worst attacks in recent history on Sunday as hundreds gathered to celebrate the start of Hannukah. The lengthy list of victims included a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a beloved rabbi with an India connection.
According to reports, Rabbi Eli Schlanger had organised the Chanukah celebration in Sydney to mark the beginning of the Jewish holiday. The 41-year-old father of five had lived in Australia for nearly 20 years and worked at rabbi at Chabad Bondi. The Global organisation — which works to foster Jewish identity — also hosts a chapter in Mumbai within one of the buildings attacked during the 26/11 terror strike.
He also had an unlikely ‘link’ to India — having helped organise a memorial for the Chabad emissaries killed in the 2008 attack mere days before the tragedy.
Who were the attackers?
Little is known about the suspects in the attack on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach, but there was widespread shock when officials said that the two men pictured firing weapons in social media videos were related. The 50-year-old father, who was killed, 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, is being treated at a hospital.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it an act of antisemitic terrorism, adding that the country’s main domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Agency, had investigated the son for six months in 2019. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that the agency had examined the son’s ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State group cell.
Hate crimes targeting Jews on the rise
A wave of antisemitic attacks have shocked and angered many in Australia over the last year. Australia has 28 million people and about 117,000 Jews. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, have surged more than threefold in the country amid the Israeli war against Gaza. Last year, there were antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars have been torched, businesses and homes vandalised with graffiti, and Jews attacked in cities where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population lives.