Special
to the Where What When
Monday, January 12, 2026, corresponding to 23 Teves 5786, marked the shloshim for the victims of the Bondi terror attack.
The trauma of the attack continues
to reverberate powerfully. Although it is currently the summer school holidays here in Australia,
teachers and administration from Jewish schools in Sydney have been receiving
guidance from experts, including specialists from Israel, on how best to
prepare for the return of students in the forthcoming school year. Tens of
students lost parents, grandparents, or other close family members. Some were
themselves wounded, while others are relatives or close friends of those injured.
Many were present at Bondi on the night of the attack and directly witnessed
its terrifying scenes – experiences tragically familiar to Jewish communities
elsewhere in the world, but almost unheard of in Australia until now.
More than a month after the
attack, the broader Australian public is also still grappling with how such an
antisemitic act of terror could occur. The Bondi attack was not only the deadliest
terror incident in Australian history, but also the first in which Jews were
killed in a targeted antisemitic attack on Australian soil. Until this very
week, the attack and its aftermath have consistently led the news cycle,
dominating newspaper front pages and opinion columns nationwide.
In a measure of comfort, the
initial outpouring of shock, horror, and revulsion directed at this attack on
the Jewish community has not dissipated. More than 20,000 people gathered at
Bondi Beach for a public eighth-night Chanukah candle lighting in solidarity
with the Jewish community. The event was attended by the Governor-General, the
Prime Minister, the State Premier, and many senior dignitaries, and was
broadcast live across multiple television networks to millions of viewers
nationwide.
Other notable acts of solidarity
followed, including the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge New Years Eve fireworks
projecting an image of a menorah. Prior to play at an international cricket
match between Australia and England, attended by over 90,000 spectators and
watched by millions more, a public commemoration of the attack was held, and
players wore black armbands in remembrance of the victims. The government
launched a “One Mitzvah for Bondi” initiative, supported by a newspaper and
television advertising campaign and also declared January 22, 2026, a National
Day of Mourning for Bondi Victims. The day is intended as a moment of national
unity and remembrance to honor the victims, stand with their families and
community, and reflect on the impact of the tragedy, with the theme “Light will
Win.”
In a further demonstration of
support, the Australian government fully funded an Air Hatzolah medical
evacuation flight originating in the United States to transport a wounded
Israeli national from Australia to Israel, where he could continue his rehabilitation
surrounded by family. The government granted him permanent residency prior to
his departure. To shorten the flight time, the Minister for Foreign Affairs
designated the Air Hatzolah flight diplomatic status, enabling it to cross
Indonesian airspace after Indonesia –
not having diplomatic relations with Israel – initially refused permission.
As the initial shock subsided and
the period of mourning progressed, public attention shifted to how the attack
could have occurred and what must be done to ensure it is never repeated. Perhaps
remarkably, it was many non-Jewish Australians who argued publicly that the
government’s initial response to allocate millions of dollars for security
funding for synagogues, schools, and Jewish institutions did not go far enough.
Within the Jewish community, there was a deep sense of sadness that Australia
was now confronting realities long familiar elsewhere in the world, where armed
guards and reinforced perimeters around Jewish institutions have become a fact
of life. Many despaired that this marked the end of the cherished open and free
Australia, beloved by so many.
Yet prominent non-Jewish
Australians made it clear they would not accept such a future. They argued that
while the Bondi attack targeted the Jewish community, it was fundamentally an
attack on Australia itself. They insisted that no segment of Australian society
should be forced to live behind fences or in fear and declared that
antisemitism is un-Australian – profoundly incompatible with Australian values
and a stain on the nation if allowed to fester.
Hundreds of prominent non-Jewish Australians, including
former defense and security chiefs, lawyers, doctors, business leaders,
artists, and athletes signed petitions and open letters demanding that a Royal
Commission – the highest form of public inquiry in Australia, comparable to a
Presidential Commission in the United States – be established to investigate
the causes and drivers of antisemitism.
In response, on January 9, 2026,
the government established a Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion,
which will cover four key areas:
- Tackling antisemitism by investigating
the nature and prevalence of antisemitism in institutions and society and
its key drivers in Australia, including ideologically and religiously
motivated extremism and radicalization.
- Making recommendations that will assist
law enforcement, border control, immigration and security agencies to
tackle antisemitism, including through improvements to guidance and
training within law enforcement, border control, immigration, and security
agencies to respond to antisemitic conduct.
- Examining the circumstances surrounding
the antisemitic Bondi terrorist attack on December 14, 2025.
- Making any other recommendations
arising out of the inquiry for strengthening social cohesion in Australia
and countering the spread of ideologically and religiously motivated
extremism in Australia.
The Royal
Commission will deliver an interim report to Government by April 30, 2026 and a
final report by December 14, 2026.
The government also announced that
Parliament will be recalled early – an unusual step during the summer period – to
pass significant legislation creating new offences for serious hate conduct,
increasing penalties for crimes motivated by hatred, and requiring courts to
consider extremist intent during sentencing. The legislation will also grant
the Minister for Home Affairs stronger powers to refuse or cancel visas for non-citizens
who promote racial hatred or extremism.
Additionally, the government has
moved to ban and criminalize offensive and extremist slogans such as “globalize
the intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and to
crack down on extremist preachers who radicalize followers.
It is difficult to identify
another country that has responded to an antisemitic attack in this way. This
unprecedented response has been driven largely by an overwhelming groundswell
of insistence from non-Jewish Australians – both prominent figures and ordinary
citizens – that antisemitism must not be imported or tolerated in Australia.
They made it clear that they do not want their fellow Australians, Jewish
Australians, to live in fear or behind security walls and guards.
The Prime Minister captured this
sentiment in a press conference on January 8, 2026:
Why is it that a school that happens to have
Jewish students should need guards outside it? My school didn’t have guards outside it, nor
should any school. These are the sorts of issues that have been raised with me.
Of course, a Royal Commission is not the
beginning or the end of what Australia must do to eradicate antisemitism or
protect ourselves from terrorism or strengthen our social cohesion. That’s an ongoing national effort for all of us as
individuals, but also as institutions, because an attack on Jewish Australians
is an attack on all Australians. The attack on December 14 targeted Jewish Australians but also targeted the Australian way
of life.
The Jewish community has been
comforted by the support it has received, particularly from ordinary
Australians. Yet at the same time, it remains wary. Jewish history teaches that
for more than 2,000 years since the Churban, no country has fully
eradicated antisemitism. One may argue that no country has previously
demonstrated such a determined commitment to do so, but the challenge remains
immense.
In many respects, the Bondi attack
was not entirely surprising. Investigations have revealed that the
father-and-son perpetrators were lone wolves inspired by ISIS – an ideology
that has proven globally impossible to eradicate. Yet hope remains that even if
antisemitism and radical Islam cannot be legislated away entirely – and even if
aspects of these new measures are challenged in court for overreach on core
democratic principles, such as freedom of speech – the tragic events of the erev
Chanukah Bondi attack may serve as a turning point – first for Australia and
perhaps for other countries to follow – in making clear through policy and
principle, driven by its citizens, that antisemitism in any form will not be
tolerated.
