Australian authorities said late Monday night that 26 people wounded in the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney remain hospitalized, with 12 still listed in serious or critical condition, including children. Also hospitalized, and far from the other victims, is 24-year-old Naהeed Akram, the surviving terrorist, who was seriously wounded and remains in a coma. Akram is expected to survive, and authorities in the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, said they are waiting for his condition to stabilize before filing formal charges.
Sydney is nine hours ahead of Israel, and shortly after sunrise on Tuesday, mourners and well-wishers once again gathered at the attack site to lay flowers, dolls and candles in memory of the victims. Israeli and Australian flags were also hung at the scene, and those who came mostly stood in silence, sometimes arm in arm, reflecting on the tragedy and the hatred that led to it.
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Mourning at the site of the antisemitic attack in Australia's Bondi Beach
(Photo: Hollie Adams/Reuters)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said overnight in an interview with ABC that, according to the latest update he received from security agencies, the two terrorists acted alone and were not part of a cell or terror network. Asked whether he felt he had done enough to combat antisemitism, Albanese said the government “is doing what it can,” explaining: “It appears the motive for the attack was ISIS ideology, the same ideology that has been around us for more than a decade. We are working as hard as we can. Unfortunately, antisemitism has existed for a long time.”
He stressed that as part of the fight against antisemitism, his government was the first to outlaw the display of hate symbols and to appoint a special commissioner to address antisemitism.
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: 'antisemitism has existed for a long time'
(Photo: AAP/Lukas Coch/via Reuters)
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Australia's former prime minister Scott Morrison: 'Antisemitism was the loaded weapon at the heart of this terrorist crime'
(Photo: Getty Images)
Former prime minister Scott Morrison, who served from 2018 to 2022 as leader of the center-right Liberal Party, said the attack “was the product of antisemitism that has been allowed to flourish in Australia since the October 7 attack in Israel. Antisemitism was the loaded weapon at the heart of this terrorist crime.”
Muslim hero who saved lives ‘felt indebted to Australia’
Meanwhile, it emerged Monday night that more than 1.5 million Australian dollars, about $1 million, have already been donated to Ahmad al-Ahmad, the Syrian Muslim immigrant who risked his life, attacked one of the terrorists from behind, wrested his weapon away and in doing so saved many lives, becoming a hero worldwide. Al-Ahmad, 43, a father of two who was himself shot during the attack and hit by five bullets, remains hospitalized and will require a lengthy rehabilitation. A GoFundMe campaign launched on his behalf has drawn donations from around the world, including $99,999, the maximum amount allowed on the site, from Jewish American billionaire Bill Ackman.
Sydney massacre hero fought terrorists, and was shot
(Photo: According to Section 27A of the Copyright Act)
Relatives and friends of Ahmad al-Ahmad told media over the past day that, despite the severe pain he is now enduring, he does not regret his actions and says he would do the same again. Sam Issa, an immigration lawyer who represents al-Ahmad, said that after receiving Australian citizenship in 2022, 16 years after immigrating from Syria, al-Ahmad felt he owed a debt to the Australian people. He added, however, that al-Ahmad’s condition is very serious. He lost a great deal of blood, is suffering severe pain and there are fears he may lose his arm. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns visited him Monday, and Prime Minister Albanese described him as “the best of what humanity has to offer.”
Receiving far less sympathy these days, through no fault of his own, is a Sydney resident born in Pakistan who shares a name with the surviving terrorist, Naveed Akram. Following Sunday’s attack, photos and personal details of the innocent man have circulated widely on social media. On Monday, he was forced to release a video through the Pakistani Consulate General in Sydney, appealing to the public to stop harassing him and instead report posts falsely identifying him as the attacker. “I have no connection to this incident or this person,” he said. “I am not involved at all. Please help me stop this propaganda.” The innocent Akram said he is afraid to leave his home.
After the attack, the New South Wales police commissioner urged the public to refrain from spreading unsubstantiated rumors and from acts of revenge. Australian media reported Monday that, in what appeared to be a hate crime following the attack, severed pig heads were placed at a Muslim cemetery in the Sydney suburb of Camden to desecrate it. Muslim community organizations in Australia strongly condemned the attack, and on Monday issued numerous messages of support for the Jewish community. In a further move to distance themselves completely from the terrorists’ actions, Muslim leaders in Sydney announced that they would refuse to accept the body of the slain terrorist, Sajid Akram, or conduct an Islamic burial ceremony for him.
Terrorists traveled to the Philippines a month before the massacre
So far, the names of nine of the 15 people killed in the Bondi Beach terror attack have been released: Chabad emissary Rabbi Eli Schlanger, 41, one of the organizers of the Hanukkah celebration at the beach; Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, 87, whose wife said he was murdered while trying to protect her; Tibor Weitzman who according to reports was also shot while defending his wife, who survived; Dan Elkayam, 27, a Jewish French citizen who immigrated to Sydney about a year ago; Rabbi Yaakov Halevi Levitin, also a Chabad emissary; Reuben Morrison, 62, originally from the former Soviet Union and a member of the Australian Chabad community; former police officer Peter Maiger, a retired New South Wales police officer who was photographing the event; Marika Fogni, 82; and and 10-year-old Matilda, whose family released her photo but withheld her last name.
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Victims of the Bondi Beach attack
(Photos: Photo: Section 27A of the Copyright Law, ABC)
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Sydney stands with Jewish community after massacre
(Photo: James D. Morgan/Getty Images)
The grieving Jewish community is still awaiting answers from Australian authorities, not only because the attack occurred after repeated warnings from community leaders to the government about rising antisemitism, but also because the two terrorists, Sajid and Naveed Akram, father and son, were able to fire for several long minutes without any security forces arriving to stop them. Ultimately, after causing mass casualties, the father was killed and the son was seriously wounded.
Investigators are focusing on the pair’s connection to ISIS. After the attack, it was reported that Australia’s counterterrorism unit believes the two pledged allegiance to the terror group before carrying out the massacre. Police found an ISIS flag and improvised explosive devices in the vehicle used by Sajid and Nabeed. According to Australian reports, the two traveled to the Philippines in November, weeks before the attack, and investigators are now examining the purpose of that trip and whether they traveled there to meet with radical Islamist elements. Even so, Prime Minister Albanese said that the investigation so far indicates they acted alone and were not part of a terror cell or network.
The 2019 survey and the Airbnb apartment: 'My son is a good boy'
Albanese said earlier Monday that the younger Akram, Naveed, was not on the watch list of Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, ASIO, but that a 2019 ASIO investigation did question his father, Sajid. According to Albanese, there was no indication at the time that the father had undergone radicalization or posed a real security threat. Sajid Akram was an Australian citizen who arrived in the country on a student visa in 1998, while his son Naveed was born in Australia.
Minute by Minute of the neutralization of the Bondi Beach terrorists
(Video: According to Section 27A of the Copyright Act)
Following the Bondi Beach attack, New South Wales police raided two homes. The first was in Bonnyrigg, a Sydney suburb about an hour’s drive from the city, where the Akram family lived. Police made two arrests there and seized six firearms that, according to reports, were legally owned by the father. A second raid targeted a home in Campsie, an Airbnb apartment about half an hour from the attack site. The father and son had stayed there in recent weeks, and investigators believe they may have prepared for Sunday’s attack at that location.
The wife of the slain terrorist, who is also the mother of the seriously wounded son, told Australian media that Naveed had told his family he was traveling with his father to Jervis Bay, south of Sydney, to fish and swim. “He called me on Sunday and said, ‘Mom, I just went swimming. I went diving. We’re going to eat now,’” said the mother, Varna Akram.
She said that on the morning of the attack he told her, “We’re staying home now because it’s very hot.” Defending her son, she insisted: “He has no weapons. He doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, goes to work and not to bad places. He’s a good boy. Everyone would want a son like my son.” According to Australian media, Naveed Akram worked in construction and lost his job two months ago when the company he was employed by went bankrupt.
‘He fell defending the people he loved’
Shayna Gutnick, the daughter of Reuben Morrison, said her father died a hero after throwing a brick at one of the two terrorists before being shot dead.
“If there was one way for him to go, it was in a fight against a terrorist,” she said in an interview with CBS. “There was no other way he could have been taken from us. He fell fighting and defending the people he loved most,” she said of her father, noting that he was defined by “endless generosity.”