A swim for unity at Bondi beach, the scene of Sydney’s darkest day. But on land tensions fray | Bondi beach terror attack

The sun rises early this time of year, hitting the south side of the beach first, then chasing the shadows north, the darkness slowly receding into the light.

As Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, was celebrated here on Sunday evening, the darkness returned with a vengeance.

At dawn on Friday, thousands of people, many people of color and from numerous tribes, came to swim back to the sea.

“Let’s spread light, love and compassion in this dark time,” appealed to the crowd before thousands picked up surfboards and rescue boards or simply swam in a giant circle in the sea, facing the middle of the beach.

This solidarity continues for now. It gives a strong and loving feeling in water.

But on land, in Sydney and the rest of Australia, this unity is tense and fragile. Undercurrents of political division, politicization of a community’s pain, fraying social cohesion are coming to the surface.

Water helps forget. However, some things cannot be undone.

Here, 15 innocent people were shot dead within minutes with the powerful rifles allegedly carried by father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram. Sajid was shot dead. Naveed was also shot but survived. He was accused of dozens of crimes at the hospital, including terrorism and 15 murders.

The pedestrian bridge where gunmen opened fire has been reopened. Someone drew a menorah on the wall with chalk. A bee was also painted in memory of the youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda.

But the bridge where thousands of innocent visitors to the beach once crossed every day will now be marked forever. A stain that cannot be erased, a memory that cannot be forgotten.

The park, too: the site of Hanukkah celebrations for years, the site of children’s birthday parties, work barbecues and scratch cricket games, where exhausted City Surf runners sprawl on the lawns and vanlife nomads hang out their laundry after the completion of Sydney’s classic 14-kilometer run.

A city on high alert

The attack was recorded on dozens of phone and dashboard cameras. The calm cruelty of the shooters opens fire mercilessly on a defenseless crowd of men, women and children who are lighting candles to celebrate their faith.

At one point, he is seen stopping shooting at a Hanukkah celebration and returning to the road.

He appears to be gesturing to people off camera to push them away, but does not raise his gun. It doesn’t fire.

He turns around and starts shooting again.

Dozens of Jewish voices said that such an attack, specifically targeting Jews at the heart of the Jewish community, was entirely predictable, if not inevitable.

Australia has seen a rise in antisemitic attacks since 2023 – including an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue – some of which are locally sourced, some allegedly orchestrated by organized crime, while others are alleged to have been planned from Iran.

To many outside Australia’s Jewish community, these were seen as isolated incidents, the heinous acts of a deranged section, outliers and alienated individuals.

But for those within the community, this was very different: It was a series of coordinated attacks on their existence, shrouded in dark historical memories.

The scope of being a Jew in this country was gradually narrowing.

While these attacks shook the country, Bondi Chabad’s assistant rabbi, Eli Schlanger, made the following appeal to his congregation: “The way forward in the fight against anti-Semitism is to be more Jewish, to act more Jewish, and to look more Jewish.”

Schlanger held its Hanukkah by the Sea event on Sunday night.

His was the first body identified.

Her youngest child is three months old.

Mass shootings are extremely rare in Australia. The Bondi attacks are immediately compared to the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in 1996, where 35 people were killed.

But this attack took place in a different and different Australia; a place that is more divided, more politically tribal, less likely to find consensus and common ground.

In the wake of Port Arthur, conservative prime minister John Howard had broad political support for sweeping gun control reforms, including a ban on semi-automatic and automatic weapons and a government-funded mandatory buyback that took 650,000 firearms off the streets.

Australia’s current prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has announced similar action but faces a different political climate. Even before the first funeral, he was held directly and personally responsible for the attack.

“Your government has done nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“You allowed the disease to spread, and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews that we see today.”

Conservative former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is currently out of parliament but is being considered as a candidate for future prime minister, said: “Our prime minister… has allowed the radicalization of Australia on his watch.

“It is time for him to take personal responsibility for the deaths of 15 innocent people, including a 10-year-old child.”

Sydney remains on high alert. On Thursday night, seven men were arrested in dramatic fashion in the city’s south-west by being wired up on the roadside on suspicion of driving to Bondi with the intention of carrying out a “violent act”. They were later released pending further investigation.

On Friday, police were called to the funeral of two Bondi victims – Boris and Sofia Gurman – following false reports that a man was carrying a gun.

And on the same day, the NSW premier proposed sweeping anti-protest legislation, including powers to effectively ban any protests the government believes could “increase discord in society… create a combustible situation”.

Prior to the gun reform announcement, Albanese’s plans had been criticized by Howard himself as “an attempt to stall”, defying the overwhelming expert view that Australia’s gun laws, once a global gold standard, were lax and fragmented.

Sajid Akram held licenses for six high-powered rifles. According to police, his son came to the attention of the Australian Security Intelligence Agency about six years ago because of his “associations” with known preachers of Islamic extremism.

On Sunday, Sajid Akram packed four of his six rifles in a car and drove to Bondi with them. He had broken no laws until he opened fire on innocents.

‘An Australian hero’

Amid fierce debates around anti-Semitism, social cohesion and political unity, it seemed symbolic that the main insurgent in an attack on a Jewish festival was an Arabic-speaking, Syrian-born Muslim.

As gunmen fired into the crowd, Ahmed al-Ahmed, unarmed but unhesitating, risked his life to save the lives of others he did not know.

Phone camera footage shows him lunging at the elder Akram and holding his rifle away from him. Ahmed threatens the disarmed Akram with his own gun, forcing the hitman backwards. However, he does not fire, instead gently placing the firearm against a tree.

Ahmed’s actions represent the image of the diverse, multi-cultural country that Australia aspires to have.

“Ahmed al-Ahmed represents the best of our country,” the Prime Minister said about the father of two, a new citizen of his adopted homeland.

Friends left flowers and messages saying “thank you” and “we love you” at Ahmed’s modest tobacco shop next to the suburban train station.

One reads “you are an Australian hero”. The sign hanging on his door reads, “We are so proud of you.”

The images of Ahmed’s intervention stood in sharp contrast to the brutal violence.

As he walked towards the gunshots, he turned to his cousin. “I will die,” he said. “Please see my family and tell them I came down to save people’s lives.”

Ahmed did not die. But he was shot five times. He faces a series of surgeries and months of recovery.

As the sun rose over the sands in Bondi on Friday morning, Rabbi Yosef Eichenblatt called for defiance in the face of terrorism.

“They want us to be afraid,” he said. “We need to be more cheerful, more courageous.”

He told those gathered on the beach that Hanukkah celebrates the victory of light over darkness.

“We must bring more light to the world… even in the darkest times we can always light a candle.”