The latest tragic toll, which is being updated hourly, stands at 15 dead and 38 injured in the massacre that took place yesterday at Bondi Beach, the famous beach in Sydney, Australia: at least 50 gunshots were fired at families gathered on the seashore to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah , the Festival of Lights. It is one of the worst anti-Semitic hate attacks outside of Israel.
Two men, a father and son, opened fire on the crowd: one was killed, the young man seriously injured . They were neutralized by police intervention and by the courage of a passerby, who disarmed one of the attackers with his bare hands . But first, the attackers had time to unleash terror: among the victims were Sydney Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a 12-year-old girl, and a Holocaust survivor . Two police officers are in critical condition.
A carnage that could have been even worse: the police found crude explosive devices on a vehicle in the area of the attack.
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, the two attackers, told their family they were going fishing. Instead, they reached a rented apartment where they moved their arsenal: several legally purchased weapons and some rudimentary explosive devices. It was their outpost from which they set out to carry out the massacre.
According to the reconstruction, the two had pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2019, but despite this, Naveed had a valid gun license. "One of these individuals was known to us, but not in terms of an immediate threat," Canberra's intelligence agency said. Two women were also taken away by police. The investigation is ongoing.
" An act of vicious anti-Semitism that has struck the nation to the heart ," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commented. "The evil that was unleashed on Bondi Beach is incomprehensible."
Australia and its Jewish community have received solidarity from major international leaders, along with that of the Australian Muslim community and the Palestinian Authority.
