SYDNEY – Australian leaders on Monday promised immediate reform to already strict gun control laws after a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. At least 15 people were killed in the attack, which sparked criticism that authorities are not doing enough to combat a rise in anti-Semitic crimes.
Among the proposed new measures are limiting the number of weapons a person can own and reviewing the licenses they have obtained over time. These and other measures would represent a significant update to the landmark National Firearms Convention, which effectively banned rapid-fire rifles after a gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996, galvanizing the country into action.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “The government is prepared to take any necessary action. Among these is the need for stricter gun laws.”
The violence broke out at the end of a summer day when thousands flocked to Bondi Beach, a symbol of cultural life in Australia. They included hundreds who gathered for a beachside Hanukkah event to celebrate the start of the Jewish festival with food, face painting and a petting zoo. Albanese described the massacre as an act of anti-Semitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.
The police shot the two suspected gunmen, a father and his son. The 50-year-old father died at the scene. Albanese said his 24-year-old son remained in a coma in hospital on Monday. The police will not reveal their names.
At least 38 other people are receiving treatment in hospitals.
Among them is a man who was captured on video tackling one of the apparent attackers and disarming him, before turning the man’s gun on him, then placing the gun on the ground.
Interior Minister Tony Burke identified the man as Ahmed Al-Ahmad. A 42-year-old fruit shop owner and father of two children was shot in the shoulder.
Al-Ahmad, an Australian citizen who immigrated from Syria in 2006, underwent surgery on Monday, his family said.
Al-Ahmad’s parents, who moved to Australia in recent months, said their son had a background in the Syrian security forces.
“My son has always been brave. He helps people. He is,” his mother, Malaka Hassan al-Ahmad, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation through an interpreter.
The authorities investigated one of the suspected gunmen
Albanese confirmed that Australia’s main domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, investigated the younger suspected gunman for six months in 2019.
ABC reported that the agency examined the son’s ties to an ISIS cell based in Sydney. Albanese did not describe his accomplices, but said the agency was interested in them, not the son.
“He was examined based on his association with others, and it was assessed that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of his involvement in violence,” Albanese said.
Australia has gun laws aimed at preventing mass attacks
The horrific incident at Australia’s most popular beach was the deadliest shooting in nearly three decades since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. The removal of rapid-fire rifles has led to a marked decline in the death toll from such acts of violence since then.
Albanese’s proposals to limit the number of guns a person can own and review licenses were announced after authorities revealed the older suspected gunman had held a gun license for ten years and legally amassed his six guns.
Federal and state government leaders on Monday also proposed restricting gun ownership to Australian citizens, a measure that would have excluded the older suspect, who came to Australia in 1998 on a student visa and became a permanent resident after marrying a local woman. Officials did not confirm the country he immigrated from.
His son, who does not have a gun licence, is an Australian-born citizen.
Government leaders also suggested the “additional use of criminal intelligence” in determining who qualifies for a gun licence. This could mean that the son’s suspicious associates could prohibit the father from owning a gun.
Chris Means, Premier of the state of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, said that gun laws in his state would change, but he could not yet detail how.
“If you’re not a farmer, you’re not in agriculture, why do you need these massive weapons that are putting the public at risk and making life dangerous and difficult for NSW Police?” asked Means.
Dozens are receiving treatment in hospitals
Among those taken to hospital were two police officers. Among the dead were a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor.
While authorities have not officially announced any of the dead or wounded, the identities of those killed, who ranged in age from 10 to 87, began to appear in news reports on Monday.
Among them was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad Bundy and organizer of the Hanukkah family event that was targeted, according to Chabad, the Orthodox Jewish movement that extends around the world.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, without providing further details. French President Emmanuel Macron said that a French citizen named Dan Al-Kayyam was among the dead.
Larissa Kleitman told reporters outside St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney that her husband, Alexander Kleitman, was among those killed. The couple were Holocaust survivors, according to The Australian newspaper.
Jewish leaders criticize government response to anti-Semitism
Over the past year, Australia has been rocked by anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were burned, businesses and homes were graffitied, and Jews were attacked in those cities, where the vast majority of the country’s Jewish population lived. Among Australia’s population of 28 million, there are about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures.
The massacre raised questions about whether Albanese and his government had done enough to curb rising anti-Semitism. Jewish leaders and survivors of the massacre expressed fear and anger when they questioned why the men had not been discovered before they opened fire.
“There’s been a heap of inaction,” said Lawrence Stand, a Sydney man who rushed to a bar mitzvah celebration in Bondi when the violence broke out to find his 12-year-old daughter.
“I think the federal government has made a number of mistakes on anti-Semitism,” Alex Revchin, spokesman for the Australian Council of Jewish Executives, told reporters gathered Monday near the site of the shooting. “I believe that when an attack occurs like what we saw yesterday, the highest and fundamental duty of the government is to protect its citizens, so there was a colossal failure.”
The Australian government has enacted various measures – including appointing a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, tightening laws and investing in enhanced security for Jewish schools and synagogues – to counter rising anti-Semitism since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, and Israel responded with an attack in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he warned Australian leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against anti-Semitism. He claimed that Australia’s decision, in line with dozens of other countries, to recognize a Palestinian state “adds fuel to the fire of anti-Semitism.”
Last August, Albanese blamed Iran for two of the previous attacks and cut diplomatic relations with Tehran. Authorities did not indicate that Iran was linked to Sunday’s massacre.