Terror at Bondi Beach: Jewish Celebration Turns to Tragedy in Antisemitic Attack

As the sounds of bullets rang out and bodies fell, 33-year-old Rebecca threw herself over her 5-year-old son, hiding under a table overlooking Australia’s iconic Bondi Beach. “Please don’t let us die,” she prayed desperately. “Please just keep my son safe.”

What began as a joyous Hanukkah celebration on a warm Sunday evening quickly descended into Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades. At least 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor, and a beloved rabbi, were killed when gunmen opened fire on the Jewish gathering around 6:40 p.m. Authorities have labeled it an antisemitic act of terrorism.

The assault has shattered the sense of security in a nation where strict gun laws have largely protected citizens from the mass shootings that plague other Western countries.

Under the table that held food for the celebration, Rebecca pulled buckets of drinks over herself and her son in a desperate attempt to hide. Just inches away, a man was struck in the chest by a bullet.

“I’m dying,” he told Rebecca. “I can’t breathe.”

Separated from her husband and 7-year-old daughter in the chaos, she could offer nothing but words of reassurance. “You’re going to be OK,” she told him desperately, not knowing if that was true.

A Summer Evening Shattered by Gunshots

The idyllic Sunday summer evening had started like any other at Bondi Beach. The temperature hovered around 84 degrees Fahrenheit, and swimmers and surfers dotted the Tasman Sea. In the park overlooking the golden arc of sand, children laughed at a petting zoo set up for the Hanukkah celebration. Music competed with the sound of crashing waves.

Then suddenly, bubbles floating through the air were replaced by bullets, laughter by screams. From positions on one of the pedestrian bridges connecting the main road to the beach, two armed gunmen—a father and son, according to police—began firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

Young people fled, while older attendees struggled to escape. Rebecca watched in horror as a bullet struck an elderly woman sitting beside her before grabbing her son and diving under a table.

On the beach and boardwalk, panic erupted. Some surfers and swimmers frantically paddled to shore while others sought safety in the water. Eleanor, who was walking along the boardwalk on her way to dinner, heard the gunshots and instinctively ran into the ocean fully clothed.

Crowds gathered on a grassy slope for an outdoor screening of the Christmas movie “The Holiday” abandoned their blankets and beach chairs, fleeing for safety.

From their hotel room overlooking the streets of Bondi, Joel Sargent and his partner Grace captured footage of the attack. Their video shows the gunfire continued for at least seven minutes, with dozens of shots fired as screaming people streamed past their building.

“Baby, I’m scared,” Grace can be heard saying before shouting warnings to those below: “Get off the street!”

Phones across Sydney lit up with panicked calls and messages. Lawrence Stand raced to the beach after receiving a call from his 12-year-old daughter who was attending a bar mitzvah inside the Bondi Pavilion. He managed to find her and others, rushing them to safety in his car.

Many struggled to find sanctuary. Inside a Greek restaurant, American friends Shira Elisha and Lexi Haag, both 20, first hid in the bathroom before running to Elisha’s home where they hid under her bedding. The young women, more accustomed to such violence in the United States, were shocked to experience it in Australia.

Back in the park, Rebecca’s 65-year-old mother-in-law pressed a piece of cardboard against the wounded man’s chest in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. He did not survive.

A Passerby Tackles a Gunman

As minutes passed and shots continued, bystanders were heard shouting: “Where are the cops?”

Amid the chaos, a passerby identified by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke as Ahmed al Ahmed, a fruit shop owner and father of two, became an unlikely hero. Crouching behind a parked car near one of the shooters, al Ahmed rushed forward, wrestling the gun away before pointing it at the assailant, who fell to the ground. Al Ahmed was shot in the shoulder during the confrontation and underwent surgery the following day.

The disarmed gunman briefly rose to his feet but fell again under police fire. The second shooter exchanged gunfire with police for another minute before he too was brought down.

Police later confirmed that the older of the two suspected gunmen, age 50, was fatally shot. His 24-year-old son was wounded and is being treated at a hospital.

In the park, rescuers desperately performed CPR on victims lying motionless on the grass, surrounded by abandoned strollers and the remnants of the celebration.

A Community in Mourning

The day after the attack, Bondi Beach became a site of mourning. Elisha, the American who had hidden in the restaurant bathroom, walked along the shore where rows of abandoned shoes lined the sand.

“It just reminded me of the Holocaust—all these shoes lying here. This is like October 7,” she said, referring to Hamas militants’ 2023 attack in Israel. “How many times do Jews need to be attacked before the world just wakes up and realizes that we have targets on our backs?”

Rebecca and her sister-in-law, draped in Israeli flags, joined others at a growing memorial of flowers on the beach. Like many parents, Rebecca struggled to answer her children’s questions about the attack.

She expressed frustration at officials she believes did little to address a surge in antisemitic crimes in Sydney and Melbourne over the past year. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his government’s efforts to combat antisemitism and promised additional measures.

“The world needs to wake up and see what’s happening,” Rebecca said. “They specifically targeted us, the Jewish people… No one did anything. They turned a blind eye.”

As Australia grapples with this rare mass shooting, the attack has not only claimed lives but has also pierced the nation’s sense of security, leaving a community in grief and raising difficult questions about the rise of antisemitism in a country long considered safe from such violence.