International Terrorism: 1)Suspected gunman in Bondi Beach shooting charged with 15 counts of murder; 2)Australian police say Bondi Beach mass shooting was inspired by Islamic State group; 3)Australia to tighten gun laws after Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre; 4)(Updated) Father and son gunmen kill at least 15 people in attack on Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach; 5) Canadian politicians, community groups share support after Australia Hannukah attack

1)Suspected gunman in Bondi Beach shooting charged with 15 counts of murder

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Charlotte Graham-mclay, Kristen Gelineau And Rod Mcguirk, December 17, 2025

A suspected gunman in Sydney’s Bondi Beach massacre was charged with 59 offenses including 15 charges of murder on Wednesday, as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims.

Two shooters slaughtered 15 people on Sunday in an antisemitic mass shooting targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, and more than 20 other people are still being treated in hospitals. All of those killed by the gunmen who have been identified so far were Jewish.

Police said that Naveed Akram, the 24-year-old suspected shooter, was charged on Wednesday after waking from a coma in a Sydney hospital, where he has been since police shot him and his gunman father at Bondi. His 50-year-old father Sajid Akram died at the scene.

The charges include one count of murder for each fatality and one count of committing a terrorist act.

Akram was also charged with 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded and with placing an explosive near a building with intent to cause harm.

Police said the Akrams’ car, which was found at the crime scene, contained improvised explosive devices.

Funerals began as a country reeling from its deadliest hate-fueled massacre of modern times turned to searching questions, growing in volume since the attack, about how it was able to happen. As investigations unfold, Australia faces a social and political reckoning about antisemitism, gun control and whether police protections for Jews at events such as Sunday’s were sufficient for the threats they faced.

First, however, was a day of anguish for families from Sydney’s close-knit Jewish community who gathered, one after another, to begin to bury their dead. The victims of the attack ranged in age from a 10-year-old girl to an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.

A father of 5 who ministered in prisons is buried

The first farewelled was Eli Schlanger, 41, a husband and father of five who served as the assistant rabbi at Chabad-Lubavitch of Bondi and organized Sunday’s Chanukah by the Sea event where the attack unfolded. The London-born Schlanger also served as chaplain in prisons across New South Wales state and in a Sydney hospital.

“After what happened, my biggest regret was — apart from, obviously, the obvious – I could have done more to tell Eli more often how much we love him, how much I love him, how much we appreciate everything that he does and how proud we are of him,” said Schlanger’s father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, who sometimes spoke through tears.

“I hope he knew that. I’m sure he knew it,” Ulman said. “But I think it should’ve been said more often.”

Funerals draw heavy police presence

Outside the funeral, not far from the site of the attack, the mood was hushed and grim, with a heavy police presence. Jews are usually buried within 24 hours from their deaths, but funerals have been delayed by coronial investigations.

One mourner, Dmitry Chlafma, said as he left the service that Schlanger was his longtime rabbi.

“You can tell by the amount of people that are here how much he meant to the community,” Chlafma said. “He was warm, happy, generous, one of a kind.”

Among others killed were Boris and Sofia Gurman, a husband and wife aged in their 60s who were fatally shot as they tried to disarm one of the gunmen when he got out of his car to begin the attack. Another Jewish man in his 60s, Reuven Morrison, was gunned down by one shooter while he threw bricks at the other, his daughter said.

Many children attended the Hanukkah event, which featured face painting, treats and a petting zoo. The youngest killed was Matilda, 10, whose parents urged attendees at a vigil on Tuesday night to remember her name.

“It stays here,” said Matilda’s mother, who identified herself only as Valentyna, pressing her hand over her heart. “It just stays here and here.”

Authorities are probing a suspected connection to the Islamic State group

Authorities believe that the shooting was “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Wednesday.

The Islamic State group is a scattered and considerably weaker group since a 2019 U.S.-led military intervention drove it out of territory it had seized in Iraq and Syria, but its cells remain active and it has inspired a number of independent attacks including in western countries.

The authorities have said that Naveed Akram came to the attention of the security services in 2019 but have supplied little detail of their previous investigations. Now authorities will probe what was known about the men.

That includes examining a trip the suspects made to the Philippines in November. The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed Tuesday that the two suspected shooters traveled to the country from Nov. 1 to Nov. 28, giving the city of Davao as their final destination.

Groups of Muslim separatist militants, including Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines, once expressed support for IS and have hosted small numbers of foreign militants from Asia, the Middle East and Europe in the past. Philippine military and police officials say there has been no recent indication of any foreign militants in the country’s south.

The younger suspect was Australian-born. Indian police on Tuesday said the older suspect was originally from the southern city of Hyderabad, migrated to Australia in 1998 and held an Indian passport.

Leader pledges action on guns and antisemitism

The news that the suspects were apparently inspired by the Islamic State group provoked more questions about whether Australia’s government had done enough to stem hate-fueled crimes, especially directed at Jews. In Sydney and Melbourne, where 85% of Australia’s Jewish population lives, a wave of antisemitic attacks has been recorded in the past year.

After Jewish leaders and survivors of Sunday’s attack lambasted the government for not heeding their warnings of violence, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed Wednesday to take whatever government action was needed to stamp out antisemitism.

Albanese and the leaders of some Australian states have pledged to tighten the country’s already strict gun laws in what would be the most sweeping reforms since a shooter killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have since been rare.

Albanese announced plans to further restrict access to guns, in part because it emerged the older suspect had amassed six weapons legally. Proposed measures include restricting gun ownership to Australian citizens and limiting the number of weapons a person can hold.

Australians come together to grieve

Meanwhile, Australians seeking ways to make sense of the horror settled on practical acts. Hours-long lines were reported at blood donation sites and at dawn on Wednesday, hundreds of swimmers formed a circle on the sand, where they held a minute’s silence. Then they ran into the sea.

Not far away, part of the beach remained behind police tape as the investigation into the massacre continued, shoes and towels abandoned as people fled still strewn across the sand.

One event that would return to Bondi was the Hanukkah celebration the gunmen targeted, which has run for 31 years, Ulman said. It would be in defiance of the attackers’ wish to make people feel like it was dangerous to live as Jews, he added.

“Eli lived and breathed this idea that we can never ever allow them not only to succeed, but anytime that they try something we become greater and stronger,” he said.

“We’re going to show the world that the Jewish people are unbeatable.”

___ Graham-McLay reported from Wellington and McGuirk from Melbourne.

2)Australian police say Bondi Beach mass shooting was inspired by Islamic State group

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Charlotte Graham-mclay And Rod Mcguirk, December 16, 2025

A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Tuesday.

The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have said. The older man, whom state officials named as Sajid Akram, was shot dead. His son was being treated at a hospital.

A news conference by political and law enforcement leaders on Tuesday was the first time officials confirmed their beliefs about the suspects’ ideologies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the remarks were based on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.”

Twenty-five people are being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre, 10 of them in critical condition. Three of them are patients in a children’s hospital.

Also among them is Ahmed al Ahmed, who was captured on video tackling and disarming one assailant, before pointing the man’s weapon at him and then setting it on the ground.

Those killed ranged in age from 10 to 87 years old. They were attending a Hanukkah event at Australia’s most famous beach on Sunday when the gunshots rang out.

Calls for stricter gun laws

Albanese and the leaders of some of Australia’s states have pledged to tighten the country’s already strict gun laws in what would be the most sweeping reforms since a shooter killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have since been rare.

Officials divulged more information as public questions and anger grew on the third day following the attack about how the suspects were able to plan and enact it and whether Australian Jews had been sufficiently protected from rising antisemitism.

Albanese announced plans to further restrict access to guns, in part because it emerged the older suspect had amassed his cache of six weapons legally.

“The suspected murderers, callous in how they allegedly coordinated their attack, appeared to have no regard for the age or ableness of their victims,” said Barrett. “It appears the alleged killers were interested only in a quest for a death tally.”

Authorities probe suspects’ trip to Philippines

The suspects travelled to the Philippines last month, said Mal Lanyon, the Police Commissioner for New South Wales state. Their reasons for the trip and where in the Philippines they went would be probed by investigators, Lanyon said.

He also confirmed that a vehicle removed from the scene, registered to the younger suspect, contained improvised explosive devices.

“I also confirm that it contained two homemade ISIS flags,” Lanyon said.

The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed Tuesday that Sajid Akram travelled to the country from Nov. 1 to Nov. 28 along with Naveed Akram, 24, giving the city of Davao as their final destination. Australian authorities have not named the younger suspect.

Groups of Muslim separatist militants, including Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines, once expressed support for the Islamic State group and have hosted small numbers of foreign militant combatants from Asia, the Middle East and Europe in the past.

Decades of military offensives, however, have considerably weakened Abu Sayyaf and other such armed groups, and Philippine military and police officials say there has been no recent indication of any foreign militants in the country’s south.

Albanese visits man who tackled shooter

Earlier, Albanese visited al Ahmed in hospital. Albanese said the 42-year-old Syrian-born fruit shop owner had further surgery scheduled on Wednesday for shotgun wounds to his left should and upper body.

“It was a great honour to met Ahmed al Ahmed. He is a true Australian hero,” Albanese told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with him and his parents.

“We are a brave country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country. We will not allow this country to be divided. That is what the terrorists seek. We will unite. We will embrace each other, and we’ll get through this,” Albanese added.

Lifeguards praised for actions during massacre

The famous blue-shirted lifeguards of Bondi Beach attracted praise as more stories of their actions during the shooting emerged.

One duty lifeguard, identified by the organization’s Instagram account as Rory Davey, performed an ocean rescue during the shooting after people fled, fully clothed, into the sea.

Another lifeguard, Jackson Doolan, posted to his social media a photo taken as he sprinted, barefoot and clutching a first aid kit, from Tamarama beach a mile away towards Bondi as the massacre continued.

“These guys are community members and it’s not about the surf,” Anthony Caroll, one of the stars of a popular reality television show called “Bondi Rescue,” told Sky News on Tuesday. “They heard the gunshots and they left the beach and came right up the back here into the scene of the crime, into harm’s way while those bullets were being shot.”

Record numbers sign up to donate blood as Australians mourn at scene of shooting

Israel’s Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon visited the scene of the carnage on Tuesday and was welcomed by Jewish leaders.

“I’m not sure that my vocabulary is rich enough to express how I feel. My heart is torn apart because the Jewish community, the Australians of Jewish faith, the Jewish community is also my community,” Maimon said.

Thousands have visited Bondi from all walks of life since the tragedy to pay their respects and lay flowers on a mounting pile at an impromptu memorial site.

One of the visitors on Tuesday was former Prime Minister John Howard, who was responsible for the 1996 overhaul of gun laws and an associated buy-back of newly outlawed weapons.

In the aftermath of the shooting, a record number of Australians signed up to donate blood. On Monday alone, close to 50,000 appointments were booked, more than double the previous record, the national donation organization Lifeblood told The Associated Press.

Almost 1,300 people signed up to donate for the first time. Such was the enthusiasm at Lifeblood’s Bondi location that appointments to give blood were unavailable before Dec. 31, according to the organization’s website.

A total of 7,810 donations of blood, plasma and platelets were made across the country on Monday, spokesperson Cath Stone said. Australian news outlets reported queues of up to four hours at some Sydney donation sites.

3) Australia to tighten gun laws after Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Charlotte Graham-mclay, Rod Mcguirk And Kristen Gelineau, December 15, 2025

Australian federal and state government leaders on Monday agreed to immediately overhaul already-tough national gun control laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, leaving at least 15 people dead.

The action would include renegotiating the landmark national firearms agreement that virtually banned rapid-fire rifles after a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996, galvanizing the country into action, the nine leaders’ said in a statement after an emergency meeting.

The violence erupted at the end of a summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, an icon of Australia’s cultural life. They included hundreds gathered for the “Chanukah by the Sea” event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival with food, face painting and a petting zoo.

At least 38 people are being treated in hospitals

At least 38 people, including two police officers, were being treated in hospitals after the massacre, when the two suspected shooters fired on the beachfront festivities. Those killed included a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor.

None of the dead or wounded victims have been formally named by the authorities. Identities of those killed, who ranged in age from 10 to 87, began to emerge in news reports Monday.

Among them was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the family Hanukkah event that was targeted, according to Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach worldwide and sponsors events during major Jewish holidays.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details. French President Emmanuel Macron said a French citizen, identified as Dan Elkayam, was among those killed.

Larisa Kleytman told reporters outside St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney that her husband, Alexander Kleytman, was among the dead. The couple were both Holocaust survivors, according to The Australian newspaper.

50-year-old suspected shooter dead, his 24-year-old son remains in a coma

Police shot the two suspected shooters, a father and son. The 50-year-old father died at the scene. His 24-year-old son remained in a coma in hospital on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Police won’t reveal their names.

Albanese confirmed that Australia’s main domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Agency, had investigated the son for six months in 2019.

Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that ASIO had examined the son’s ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State group cell. Albanese did not describe the associates, but said ASIO was interested in them rather than the son.

“He was examined on the basis of being associated with others and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” Albanese said.

Albanese had proposed new gun restrictions, including limiting the number of guns a licensed owner can obtain and reviewing existing licenses over time.

His proposals were announced after the authorities revealed that the older suspected gunman had held a gun license for a decade and amassed his six guns legally.

“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” Albanese said.

Australia has gun laws meant to prevent mass attacks

The horror at Australia’s most popular beach was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. The removal of rapid-fire rifles has markedly reduced the death tolls from such acts of violence since then.

Albanese called the Bondi massacre an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.

Government leaders on Monday 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 wouldn’t confirm what country he had migrated from.

His son, who doesn’t have a gun license, is an Australian-born citizen.

The government leaders also proposed the “additional use of criminal intelligence” in deciding who was eligible for a gun license. That could mean the son’s suspicious associates could disqualify the father from owning a gun.

Chris Minns, premier of New South Wales where Sydney is the state capital, said his state’s gun laws would change, but he could not yet detail how.

“It means introducing a bill to Parliament to — I mean to be really blunt — make it more difficult to get these horrifying weapons that have no practical use in our community,” Minns said.

“If you’re not a farmer, you’re not involved in agriculture, why do you need these massive weapons that put the public in danger and make life dangerous and difficult for New South Wales Police?” Minns asked.

Jewish leaders lambast antisemitism measures

Meanwhile, the massacre provoked questions about whether Albanese and his government had done enough to curb rising antisemitism. Jewish leaders and the massacre’s survivors expressed fear and fury as they questioned why the men hadn’t been detected before they opened fire.

“There’s been a heap of inaction,” said Lawrence Stand, a Sydney man who raced to a bar mitzvah celebration in Bondi when the violence erupted to find his 12-year-old daughter.

“I think the federal government has made a number of missteps on antisemitism,” Alex Ryvchin, spokesperson for the Australian Council of Executive Jewry, told reporters gathered on Monday near the site of the massacre. “I think when an attack such as what we saw yesterday takes place, the paramount and fundamental duty of government is the protection of its citizens, so there’s been an immense failure.”

On Monday, hundreds arrived near the scene to lay flowers at a growing pile of floral tributes. There were words of pride, too, for a man who was captured on video appearing to tackle and disarm one gunman, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.

The man was identified by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke as Ahmed al Ahmed. The 42-year-old fruit shop owner and father of two was shot in the shoulder by the other gunman and survived.

Al Ahmed, an Australian citizen who migrated from Syria in 2006, underwent surgery on Monday, his family said.

“Ahmed is a real-life hero. Last night, his incredible bravery no doubt saved countless lives when he disarmed a terrorist at enormous personal risk,” Minns posted on social media with a photo of the premier sitting at the end of al Ahmed’s hospital bed.

Al Admed’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’s like that,” his mother, Malakeh Hasan al Ahmed, told ABC through an interpreter.

Massacre followed a surge in antisemitic crimes

Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Over the past year, the country was rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population lives.

The Australian government has enacted various measures to counter a surge in antisemitism since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he warned Australia’s leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia’s decision, in line with scores of other countries, to recognize a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”

Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the previous attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran. Authorities have not suggested Iran was linked to Sunday’s massacre.

4)(Updated) Father and son gunmen kill at least 15 people in attack on Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Kristen Gelineau, Charlotte Graham-McLay and Rod McGuirk, December 14, 2025

A small Christmas tree is at the center of an abandoned holiday picnic at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi beach, killing 15 people, including a child, officials said Monday, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation. The shooters were father and son, authorities said.

The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those and the shooting Sunday were connected. It was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.

One gunman, a 50-year-old man, was fatally shot by police. The other shooter, his 24-year-old son, was wounded and was being treated at a hospital, said Mal Lanyon, New South Wales police commissioner.

Police said one gunman was known to security services, but Lanyon said authorities had no indication of a planned attack.

Those killed were aged between 10- and 87-years-old, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters. At least 42 others were being treated at hospitals on Monday morning, several of them in a critical condition.

“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach, that is associated with joy, associated with families gathering, associated with celebrations,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.

“It is forever tarnished by what has occurred.”

The shooting targeted a Jewish celebration

The violence erupted at the end of a summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, an icon of Australia’s cultural life. They included hundreds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.

The festivities included face painting and a petting zoo. Then mayhem erupted.

Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach worldwide and sponsors events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the event.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details. French President Emmanuel Macron announced a French citizen, identified as Dan Elkayam, was among those killed.

None of the victims have been publicly named by Australian authorities. The gunmen haven’t been officially named either.

But stories of the victims began to emerge in local news outlets on Monday. Larisa Kleytman told reporters outside St Vincent’s Hospital that her husband, Alexander Kleytman was among the dead, according to The Australian newspaper.

The couple were both Holocaust survivors.

Police said emergency services were called at about 6:45 p.m., responding to reports of shots being fired. Video by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out.

Separate footage showed two men in black shirts firing with long guns from a footbridge leading to the beach. One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one gunman, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.

Minns called the man, identified by relatives to Australian media as fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed, a “genuine hero.”

Witnesses fled and hid as shots rang out

Arsen Ostrovsky, a lawyer attending the Hanukkah ceremony with his wife and daughters, was grazed in the head by a bullet. Ostrovsky said he moved from Israel to Australia two weeks ago to work for a Jewish advocacy group.

“What I saw today was pure evil, just an absolute bloodbath. Bodies strewn everywhere,” he told The Associated Press in an email from the hospital. “I never thought would be possible here in Australia.”

Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told the AP he was waiting for his family when he heard shots.

“I sprinted as quickly as I could,” Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes. “Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible.”

Antisemitic attacks have roiled Australia

Albanese vowed the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.” Some of his political opponents and Israel’s government accused him of not having done enough to prevent such a horror.

Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.

Last year, the country was rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population lives.

Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran.

Israel urged Australia’s government to address crimes targeting Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he warned Australia’s leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia’s decision — in line with scores of other countries — to recognize a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”

“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia … and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.

Police will investigate what happened

Authorities were not looking for anyone else in connection with the massacre, said Lanyon. Police pledged a “thorough” investigation, he added.

Further inquiries are likely to be announced.

Two improvised explosive devices were found at the scene. Bomb disposal experts rendered them safe.

Lanyon described them as “rudimentary” devices that would have been detonated by a wick rather than a phone or electronically.

Shooting deaths in Australia are rare

Minns said there would “almost certainly” be gun law changes after the massacre. The 50-year-old gunman who was shot dead was found to have six firearms when law enforcement raided the property where he’d been staying, police said.

Questions about how he was able to acquire them gathered pace on Monday, in part because mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws, making it much more difficult to acquire firearms.

Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014 and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.

In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.

World leaders express shock and grief

After the massacre, messages flooded in from leaders around the world.

King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack.” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on X he was horrified, and his “heart is with the Jewish community worldwide.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X: “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.”

___ McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia, and Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Mustakim Hasnath in London contributed to this report.

5) Canadian politicians, community groups share support after Australia Hannukah attack

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff, Dec. 14, 2025.

Canadian politicians and community groups are sharing messages of support after a mass shooting left at least 15 people, including one of the shooters, dead at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a statement Sunday, said Canadians stand with Jewish people in Australia and across the world in light of the horrific attack.

“Hanukkah is a time of light amidst the darkness, and a remembrance of the resilience of the Jewish people,” Carney said.

“As it commences, Canadians stand in sorrow with the people of Australia and Jewish people everywhere following today’s horrific antisemitic terror attack at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach in Sydney – and we stand together in our determination never to bow to terrorism, violence, hatred, or intimidation.”

Later Sunday, speaking briefly at a menorah lighting ceremony in Ottawa, Carney reiterated his support for the Jewish community in wake the shooting.

“I will always be with you, and I will not rest until we move from protection to true thriving,” Carney said, adding that the day had become both a commemoration as well as a celebration.

Premiers from coast to coast also shared condolences Sunday, with B.C. Premier David Eby saying he was appalled by the attack.

“This was antisemitic violence, plain and simple,” Eby said on social media Sunday.

“On this first night of Chanukah, we stand united with the Jewish community in B.C. and around the world, and … mourn the innocent lives lost.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was praying for the victims and their families, and called on all Canadians to stand against antisemitism.

“Hanukkah traditions, including lighting candles, sharing meals and spending time with loved ones, serve as a powerful reminder of the value of community and how we can lift one another, even in difficult times,” Ford said in a statement.

“I hope that these traditions are a comfort to our Jewish friends and neighbours this Hanukkah.”

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said on social media that she was saddened and angered by the news.

“This could have been here in (New Brunswick),” Holt said.

“Our hearts are with the families and loved ones, and with Jewish communities here at home and around the world. We stand with Australia in rejecting this hatred and violence.”

At least 42 people were wounded in the attack, which saw two gunmen open fire on a crowd gathered on Bondi Beach to celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah.

Jewish officials have identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and one of the celebration’s organizers.

Canadian community groups widely condemned the attack Sunday.

Jewish advocacy group B’nai B’rith Canada said in a statement that it’s outraged by the attack, and called on Ottawa to take measures to prevent similar violence in Canada.

“Attacks on Jews anywhere in the world test our society’s moral leadership,” said the organization’s chief executive officer, Simon Wolle, in a statement.

“Our government cannot wait for blood to be shed in Canada before it acts.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ CEO Noah Shack agreed, saying in a statement that urgent action was needed from the federal government to prevent acts of antisemitic violence.

The Canadian Muslim Forum said it stood with the Jewish community in wake of the attack and that it was praying for the families of the victims.

“This horrific act of hate reminds us that when hatred is left unchecked, no community is safe,” it said in a statement.

“We condemn all forms of hate and reaffirm our commitment to unity, compassion, and the protection of all communities.”

Australian police officials have said the gunmen were a father and son. The father was killed by police, while the other shooter was wounded and taken to hospital.

— By Jack Farrell in Edmonton, with files from Jim Bronskill in Ottawa and The Associated Press.