The massacre

WHAT HAPPENED: On Sunday the 14th of December, 2025, at around 18:45 Sydney time, a mass shooting occurred at Archer Park, near Bondi Beach in Sydney. Two armed men opened fire on a crowd of people celebrating “Hanukkah by the Sea” an Jewish holiday event organised by Chabad of Bondi. The event has been confirmed by Australian authorities, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, to be a targeted terrorist attack against the Jewish community. At least 15 innocent people were killed. Dozens more were injured. One of the assailants was also killed at the scene by police, while and the other was taken into custody with serious injuries. The Jewish community in Sydney, around Australia, and indeed around the world has been devastated by the attack.

THE VICTIMS: The victims include Matilda a 10 year old girl, Rabbi Eli Schlanger a local Chabad Rabbi known for running this event, Alexander Kleytman an 87 year-old Holocaust survivor, 69 year old Boris Gurman and his 61 year-old wife Sofia who were killed while trying to stop the gunmen, Dan Elkayam a French national who moved to Australia a year ago, Peter Meagher (known as Marzo) a retired police officer was at the event as a photographer, Reuven Morrison a businessman who had migrated to Australia in the 1970s from the former Soviet Union, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan who served as secretary of Sydney’s Beth Din (a religious court), Tibor Weitzen who migrated to Australia from Israel in 1988 and was killed shielding a friend, Marika Pogany originally from Slovakia and a close friend of the countries former leader, and Edith Brutman Vice-President of B’nai B’rith New South Wales a Jewish service organisation.

THE PERPETRATORS: have been identified as a father and son: 50-year-old Sajid Akram and his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, both Sydney residents. The father, originally from Hyderabad in India, moved to Australia in 1998 and married an Australian woman. Their son Naveed was born in Australia. They are a Muslim family and the father and sun were radicalized by an Islamic State ideology. Sajid Akram was shot dead by police at the scene, while Naveed Akram was arrested with critical injuries and is currently in hospital under police guard.

THE WEAPONS: Authorities have confirmed that Sajid Akram was a legal firearms licence holder for approximately a decade, and has six registered weapons. The long arms used in the attack, which were recovered from the scene, were among his registered firearms. His other guns were recovered during a police raid on a property in Campsie. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that the younger man, Naveed Akram, was previously known to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and has been investigated for six months in 2019 but ASIO had concluded at the time that he posed no ongoing threat of violence.

THE HERO: The massacre is the second deadliest mass shooting event in Australian history. The worst occurred in Port Arthur, in the state of Tasmania, in 1996 when 35 people were killed. The Bondi Beach Massacre would have been even worse except for the actions of Ahmed Al Ahmed, a bystander who tackled one of the gunmen preventing further deaths. Mr Al Ahmed is an immigrant who migrated to Australia from Syria nearly 20 years ago, a Muslim, and a small business owner. He was injured in the attack and is currently in hospital where he has been visited by the Prime Minister, the Governor General, and a high-ranking Syrian diplomat. He is an Australian hero who is being praised across the country for his bravery.

The Online Hate Prevention Institute’s Response

OHPI began monitoring social media and gathering data related to the attack within 15 minutes of it occurring. At the time of publication we have collected and archived 265 problematic items of online content. All items have been verified by our experts and archived. We will be sharing them with social media platforms we work with.

The methodology employed when gathering this data was one of “coding hate” we used the same methodology previously in our report examining the online response to two Melbourne Synagogue attacks in 2024-2025, and in an earlier report on the Yom Kippur Terrorist Attack in Halle Germany. The methodology is further explained in the book chapter “Trials and challenges measuring online hate” (download the free book on online hate speech).

The breakdown of our data is shown in the graph below. This provides data on our sample but, unlike the proprietary monitoring methodology in our reports (e.g. “Social Media and the Normalisation of Hate: October 7 Two Years On” from October 2025) is not intended to be representative of social media as a whole.

We assessed the data based on the following categories: (1) Antisemitism (General), (2) False flag claims, (3) Islamophobia, (4) Misc/Other, (5) Promoting Traditional Antisemitism, (6) Blaming Israel, (7) Justifying/Glorifying the attack, (8) Israel Related (General), (9) Blaming Zionism/Zionists, (10) Anti-Immigrant Government Conspiracy, (11) Justifying Extremism, (12) Minimising the attack, (13) Questioning the attack, (14) Blaming Prime Minister, (15) Questioning Jews as the target. False flag claims as a form of denying violence against Jews are also included under Antisemitism (General). In general content can be in multiple categories.

The data is explored further below.

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Examples of the Data

Antisemitism & False Flag Claims

We include false flag claims under antisemitism as they deny the reality of the victims are experiencing, and in this case that experience is violence targeted as Jews, and hence antisemitism.

In this case the false flag claims most commonly allege the attack was carried out by either by the Jewish community itself, or by Israel. These efforts are designed to undermined the incidents status as a genuine attack on the Jewish community and to reduce support or sympathy for the victims.

Example 1

In this first example a “juice” box is used to represent “Jews”. This is coded antisemitism which started with Hitler memes many years ago. This post claims Jews are responsible for the attack and suggests Jews will stop at nothing, not even killing their own people, to reinforce support for Israel. It is deeply antisemitic.

Example 2

The next example has a similar message, but even less coded. It also denies the attack is real and seems to look forward to a “real” massacre of Australian Jews. As can be seen this is from an Australian’s account.

Example 3

This next example suggests the high level of skepticism over media and government reports of a terrorist attack, i.e. the idea it is a false flag, and the suggestion it is Mossad (Israel’s intelligence service behind it) are a sign things are improving. It also calls on people to “keep noticing” a coded antisemitic reference to conspiracy theories that Jews are behind everything.

Example 4

Various commentators responded to the attacks by enforcing traditional antisemitic tropes. The user below suggests that Jews value non-Jewish lives at a tiny fraction of their own, thereby villainising Jews and portraying them as discriminatory. 

Example 5

This example alleges a conspiracy about global media control, one of the antisemitic conspiracy theories promoted by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Example 6

Other content was antisemitic because it sought to demonize Zionists. Most Australian Jews are Zionists, which means they believe the Jewish people have the right to have a state just like other peoples. This neither suggests an exclusively Jewish state, nor does it reject a two state solution to the Middle East conflict. There is a long history of misrepresenting Zionism and demonising it. It is like demanding Australia’s First Nations people give up their connection to their land and any Native Title claims – such a position is simply racist.

Questioning the attacks

Example 7

Especially in the minutes and hours shortly following the attacks, some commentators questioned whether the attacks were even real. This user writes that it’s “highly suspicious” and there are “all these shots and no injuries or deaths”. At the time the user posted this, it appears they were trying to suggest that the event never really took place, or was faked. As the injuries and deaths mounted, of course, this must have proven an impossible position to maintain. 

Justifying the Attacks

Example 8

Some users attempted to justify the attacks. This user writes that two of the Jews that were murdered were “genocide enthusiasts” and that the event may have actually been a “genocide supporters’ event using Hanukkah as a cover. This is an attempt to justify the attacks by villianising the victims, thereby suggesting that they deserved to die. 

Example 9

In a similar vein, the following user points out that a Rabbi who was murdered was “the leader of the organization that organized the event”, rather than “some random attendee”, as though this justifies his murder. 

Example 10

The next post, from a media outlet, highlights a victim’s alleged trip and behaviour in Israel as justification for their being shot. 

Questioning Jews as the Target

Example 11

Especially in the time immediately following the attack, some users online tried to cast doubt of whether Jews were the intended target of the shooting, and hence whether it should be considered an act of terrorism or a hate-crime. The user states that the attacks “has nothing to do with the Jewish celebrations!” 

Minimising the Attacks

Example 12

Other users accepted the reality of the attacks, but made comments that downplayed its significance. This reddit user says they “fear the retaliations might be worse than the attack as is often the case.” Given that 15 people were murdered, and dozens others injured, to immediately shift the focus onto the potential retaliations, and to suggest that they may be “worse”, minises the seriousness of the attack on the Jewish community. 

Example 13

Another user says that this event reminds them of the Christchurch attack, in which 50 Muslims were murdered in New Zealand. They end their post by saying “..hate is everywhere..”. The implication is that there is nothing special or noteworthy about this event, which has the effect of minimising its significance. This is despite this being the second deadliest mass shooting in Australian history.

Israel Related Content

Example 14

There was a significant amount of problematic content related to Israel. Many users immediately blamed Israel for the attacks, which lets the actual perpetrators off the hook and is a way of putting the responsibility back onto the Jewish community. 

Example 15

Other users didn’t blame Israel, but they did cite the actions of Israel when discussing these attacks. This suggests that Jews here in Australia are collectively responsible for the behaviour of the Israeli government, which is a form of antisemitism. The following two users respond to discussions of the attacks by citing Israel’s alleged actions in Gaza. 

Example 16

Islamophobia

In addition to the antisemitic responses to the attack, there has also been a significant amount of Islamophobia. Many users implied that Islam, and perhaps all Muslims, are inherently violent or dangerous. 

Example 17

Many users, like the one below, simply commented “religion of peace”, or something similar. These comments therefore sarcastically imply that Islam is inherently violent, and that we should expect this kind of behaviour from Muslims. 

Example 18

Another users writes that “Australia got the taste of the beauty of islam”, therefore suggesting that these kinds of attacks are part and parcel with the Islamic faith. 

Example 19

This user writes that most Muslims won’t care about the attack because “the people that died aren’t fucking muslim”. This villainises Muslims and paints them as discriminatory. 

Anti-Immigration Rhetoric

Many of the responses we encountered were anti-immigration. Many users responded to the attacks by claiming that immigrants, or Australia’s immigration policies, were ultimately to blame for the attacks. 

Example 20

In one response to a statement about the attacks from the PM, one user writes “No more immigrants its ruining our peace”. Another one simply comments “3rd world germs”, thereby dehumanising immigrants and blaming them for the attack. 

Promoting Extremism 

Example 21

Some users, like the two featured below, took this attack as an opportunity to promote a neo-Nazi group. The implication is that racial minorities are ultimately to blame for the attack, and so adopting extremism is the way to prevent those attacks.

Example 22

Government Conspiracy 

Some users seemed to imply that the attack was in fact orchestrated by the government.

Example 23

This user writes that the event was “Probably a paid psy op just to enforce stricter gun laws and antisemitism”. This implies that the government have orchestrated the attack in order to help justify their political agenda. 

Blaming the PM

Many users blamed the PM Anthony Albanese directly for the attack.

Example 24

Featured below is the PM’s official statement on Instagram, and we can see multiple comments suggesting that the PM has “blood on his hands”. This could be in reference to the PM’s recognition of a Palestinian state earlier this year, and could also be speaking to immigration policies that some users think are to blame for the attacks. 

Other responses

OHPI’s CEO Dr Andre Oboler is in Israel, participating in meetings of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as an expert member of the Australian Government’s delegation. A preliminary look at this data was presented in IHRA’s Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial.

Our analysts are collecting a representative sample of the current state of antisemitism across ten social media platforms. We will be able to compare this to the levels of antisemitism over recent months to see what impact the massacre has on the general state of antisemitism. Here is where we stood up to the end of November:

We’ve also been active in the media.

Our CEO, Dr Andre Oboler, wrote an op-ed “Out of the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach, Australia must find a new resolve” published at the ABC’s Religion and Ethics has been widely read and shared. It calls for a reset.

“Australia has become a country where excuses are made rather than action taken. Instead of confronting hate and calling it out, we give it a wide berth so as to avoid confrontation. That approach, as many have warned, leads to the kind of bloodshed we’ve just witnessed at Bondi Beach…. we need to see change. We need to stop ceding ground to antisemitism. We, all decent Australians, need to speak up. We need greater public awareness and understanding of antisemitism. Most importantly, we need to stop excusing it and allowing it to fester and grow.”

Dr Oboler also provided commentary for a major article by Canaan Lidor in JSN. Here’s a couple of extracts:

Andre Oboler, an expert member of Australia’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, told JNS of “a lack of courage, allowing manifestations of hate to grow, rather than risk an escalation by confronting it. Slowly more and more space has been ceded to those promoting hate,” he said.

…

“When pro-Palestinian protests in both Sydney and Melbourne included antisemitic signs and chants, many marched with them, dismissing the presence of antisemitism as unimportant, and insufficient reason to distance themselves from those events,” Oboler, who’s also CEO of the Online Hate Prevention Institute and an adjunct associate professor at the La Trobe Law School, said, “We have even seen elected leaders marching with them, ignoring the concerns of the Jewish community over the signal that sends.”

Dr Oboler provided commentary for an additional article “Australian Jews call gun laws a deflection after Sydney massacre” in JSN rejecting the call for gun reform as the key response to this attack. Here’s a couple of extracts:

Extracts:

Andre Oboler, an expert member of Australia’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, told JNS that the current focus on gun control “entirely misses the point” as it “may reduce the risk of a random attack, but the Chanukah massacre was not a random attack. It was targeted. It was driven by an ideology of hate.”

Australia, Oboler said, will “only get back on track and return to the country we knew when the hate we are seeing, antisemitism, is named, recognized, and addressed.” Efforts to “avoid confrontation,” he added, “have left Australian Jews with their backs to the wall. That is the issue and only by addressing it can Australia return to what it once was.”

What next?

We will continue monitor the response to the attack and work towards a full report with greater commentary on the issues and recommendations for action which we aim to release in mid-January.

We will also continue our regular monitoring proving on-going longitudinal data on how antisemitism in Australia is changing and how its messages are changing and spreading. This will build on our work inlcuding:

• Social Media and the Normalisation of Hate: October 7 Two Years On
• Online Antisemitism After October 7
• Online Antisemitism Before October 7
• The Online Antisemitism in Australia 2023 Report

There is a need for longitudinal monitoring on Islamophobia, as has been done on antisemitism. OHPI is well placed to undertake this work if funding can be found. We undertook the world’s first monitoring of online Islamophobia back in 2013, our work on Islamophobia in 2015 was cited in the United Nations, and we also monitored its rise after October 2023.

Exit Australia, our deradicalisation program, will continue to help those wanting to leave extremism.

Our monitoring will continue to find extremists and assist police and intelligence agencies in keeping Australia safe.

We will continue to work with our platform partners, helping them improve their systems and better address online hate and extremism.