Thousands turned out for a memorial on Sunday, one week on from the Bondi Beach mass shooting that shook Australia, as officials announced a review of the country's law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The attack — Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades — killed 15 people during a seaside Hanukkah celebration and was designated a terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community. One suspected shooter was killed during the attack, while the other was injured and charged with terrorism and murder after he awoke from a coma, as Australian investigators probe their alleged connection to the Islamic State terror group.
A minute of silence was observed at 6:47 p.m. local time (2:47 a.m. E.T.) on Sunday, exactly seven days since the attack began. A candle projection lit up Sydney Opera House, while crowds of mourners attended an evening memorial at Bondi, guarded by a heavy police presence, including snipers on rooftops and police boats in the waters.
David Ossip, the president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, told the crowd: "Like the grass here at Bondi was stained with blood, so, too, has our nation been stained. We have landed up in a dark place."
But he pointed to the heroism of Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian fruit shop owner who disarmed one of the shooters, adding that "a single act of courage, a single flame of hope, can give us direction and point the path forward."
Ossip read a message to the crowd from al-Ahmed, who is recovering in the hospital after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds. In his message, al-Ahmed said: "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted. Today I stand with you, my brothers and sisters."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in attendance at the memorial, as well as Governor-General Sam Mostyn, King Charles' representative in Australia. Former prime minister of Australia John Howard was photographed embracing mourners in the crowd.
The shooting has left Australians across the country reeling, with tributes accompanied by a reckoning over the government’s response to growing antisemitism and the availability of guns in the country.
Albanese was booed by the crowds as he arrived for the memorial on Sunday night. It comes after criticism from leaders in Australia’s Jewish community and some of the victims’ families, who have blamed the Australian government for missing the signs of growing antisemitism in the wake of the war between Hamas and Israel that erupted in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and accused it of not doing enough to protect the country’s Jewish community.
On Sunday, Albanese commissioned a review into Australia’s federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to examine whether they have the “right powers, structures, processes and sharing arrangements in place to keep Australians safe” in the wake of the attack.
“The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation,” his statement said. “Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond.” The review is to be completed by next April, Albanese said.
State authorities in New South Wales have moved to tighten restrictions on pro-Palestinian protests and hate speech in the aftermath of the attack, with NSW Premier Chris Minns saying that protests were "unleashing something in our community that the organizers of the protest can’t contain."
Suspected gunman Naveed Akram, 24, was charged with 59 offenses Wednesday, including terrorism and 15 counts of murder, after he awoke from a coma in a Sydney hospital, having been shot by police. He is alleged to have carried out the attack alongside his father, Sajid Akram, 50.
Two “homemade” Islamic State flags were found in the younger suspect’s car, police said last week, adding that the pair travelled to the Philippines last month — seen in the past as a hot spot for Islamic extremists.
In its weekly ‘Al-Naba’ magazine bulletin, Islamic State praised the attack, describing it as a ‘source of pride,’ though it did not directly claim responsibility for the attack.
Naveed Akram came to the attention of Australia’s domestic intelligence agency in 2019, Albanese said last week, and he was probed for six months over his alleged extremist associations, but it was determined that he posed no threat.
Albanese has also called to toughen up the country’s already strict gun laws immediately after the attack and on Friday said Australia would launch a national gun buyback scheme.
