Sydney Jewish Chanukah by the Sea celebration attacked; multiple people killed, injured; shooters yet to be identified
The FBI is assisting Australian authorities with their investigation into Sunday’s Bondi Beach terror attack as US leaders join global condemnation of the Hanukkah massacre.
FBI director Kash Patel said the agency had met with its Australian counterparts and that the bureau was “providing the requested assistance.”
FBI Director Kash Patel speaks with reporters at a press conference at the Department of Justice on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)Credit: access point
New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said slain rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was among the 12 people confirmed dead so far, had deep ties to the Brooklyn Crown Heights neighborhood in the New York borough of Brooklyn.
“Today’s attack on Hanukkah celebrations in Sydney was a despicable act of anti-Semitic terrorism,” Mamdani said. “Another Jewish community was plunged into mourning and loss, a bright holiday turned painfully dark day.
“This attack is only the latest and most horrific iteration of a growing pattern of violence targeting Jewish people around the world. Many people no longer feel safe being themselves, expressing their faith openly, worshiping in their synagogues without armed security outside. What happened in Bondi is what many Jews fear will happen in their own communities.”
US House Speaker Mike Johnson said the Bondi attack was “another wake-up call” about the dangers posed by antisemitism.
Zohran Mamdani, who was elected mayor of New York. Credit: Bloomberg
“The Jewish people must be free to practice their faith openly and without fear. Antisemitism must be confronted and defeated wherever it appears,” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States strongly condemned the attack and prayed for the victims, the Jewish community and the Australian people.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in this world,” he said.
US Republican Senator Ted Cruz said it was a “barbaric, anti-Semitic act of terrorism”.
“This was the ugly but all too predictable consequence of too many leaders around the world tolerating and even inciting hatred of Jews rather than confronting the evil of anti-Semitism with moral clarity and unrelenting condemnation.”
