Jewish leader: A chance to show the 'horrific' antisemitism

Australia begins probe of Bondi event targeted by terrorists, antisemitism in country

Lawyer complains of insufficient response to Royal Commission’s requests for evidence from government, agencies; victims unable to share their accounts due to ongoing legal proceedings

Australia on Tuesday opened a government-backed inquiry into antisemitism, after 15 people were killed in a terror attack targeting a Jewish event at Bondi Beach in December 2025.

The attack at the Hanukkah celebration shocked a country with strict gun laws and fueled calls for tougher controls and stronger action against antisemitism.

The Royal Commission, the most powerful type of government inquiry in Australia, which can compel people to give evidence, will be led by retired judge Virginia Bell.

It will consider the events of the terror attack as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia, and is expected to report its findings by December this year.

In her opening statement at a court in Sydney on Tuesday, Bell said security arrangements at the Hanukkah event and intelligence ahead of it would form a major part of the commission.

“The commission needs to investigate the security arrangements for that event, and to report on whether our intelligence and law enforcement agencies performed to maximum effectiveness,” Bell said.

Police say the gunmen, Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, were inspired by the Islamic State group.

Sajid Akram was shot dead by police at the scene, while Naveed Akram, who was also shot but survived, is currently facing charges including 15 counts of murder and a terror offense.

Limited scope of inquiry

Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, no potential witnesses in Akram’s trial will be called to give evidence to the commission, Bell said.

Bell said she plans to meet with victims’ families in private to explain some of the limitations of her inquiry.

Richard Lancaster, the top lawyer assisting Bell with the inquiry, said his team had sent dozens of requests to government and other agencies to produce documentary evidence, but the level of responses are “not presently where we would like it to be.”

There was no testimony heard or evidence given on Tuesday, and the commission is yet to determine when it will next sit.

Michele Goldman, CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said after the hearing that the inquiry would be an opportunity to showcase the community’s “horrific” experiences of antisemitism.

But some people directly impacted by the attack would find it “very hard” to be barred from sharing their accounts with the inquiry, she said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had initially resisted calls to set up a Royal Commission, saying the process would take years, which attracted criticism from Jewish groups and victims’ families.

Australia’s 120,000-strong Jewish community has long complained that Albanese hasn’t done enough to protect them from rising antisemitism following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, and that his critical position on Israel has emboldened pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activists to target Jewish institutions.

Albanese’s occasional statements of support for the community after the many attacks on Jews in the past two years have frequently been met with cynicism.

Many in Australia’s Jewish community say the government, and Albanese in particular, “abandoned” them, arguing that clear warning signs and a spate of antisemitic attacks were ignored in the lead-up to the Bondi massacre.

Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the Gaza war and setting off a tidal wave of antisemitism across the globe, Australia’s Jewish community has been among the hardest hit.

Australia has seen successive marches and protests that have included antisemitic rhetoric, as well as attacks on synagogues, schools and homes. Instances included a firebomb attack on a synagogue, two nurses who threatened to kill Jewish patients at their hospital, and the law enforcement discovery of a trailer filled with explosives, said to have been intended to cause a mass-casualty event at a Sydney synagogue.