Bondi Beach did not happen in a vacuum

The shooting at Bondi Beach, Australia, should not surprise anyone; it did not happen in a vacuum. The rising antisemitism and hatred have been deliberately tolerated with impunity by figures like Albanese of Australia, Macron of France, Starmer of the UK, and Carney of Canada. Four transparent pandering figures, morally lacking, have allowed antisemitism to grow in their streets, towns, and governments. They have permitted public calls for terrorism and the destruction of Israel under the guise of free speech.

Australia has seen attacks on Jewish businesses, synagogues, and citizens, with the government and law enforcement effectively ignoring coordinated violence against Jews. The Bondi Beach attackers were welcomed into the country, despite ongoing terrorism issues in Pakistan. Meanwhile, in 2022, the Australian government considered tennis star Novak Djokovic¹ a national threat and barred him from participating in the Australian tennis championship for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID.

The Australian government’s threat analysis leaves a lot to be desired. It takes a special kind of ignorance to think that public violent calls for death to the IDF or the often repeated “from the river to the sea” wouldn’t lead the likes of the two murderers to act and kill Jews. For two years, Israel and Jews worldwide have been unfairly targeted with the support of the UN, the EU, and several US politicians. Every politician who recognized “Palestinian” statehood while hostages were still being held and others murdered should be held responsible. If the ICC weren’t such a biased court, it would do its job and hold these governments accountable for allowing modern-day pogroms to occur.

The attack on a peaceful celebration by Australians whose only sin is being Jewish has triggered my anger to a level unseen since October 7. Pseudo astonishment or even calls for support for Jewish communities by the four mentioned protagonists is an obscene attempt to wash their hands of a situation they helped create by allowing it to escalate. They tolerated antisemitism to appease their growing population of Middle Eastern immigrants, who are hostile to Western cultures and mostly to Jews. The Gaza war was just an excuse. The Jew-hatred surfaced at the right time with the right justification, and these four fools relished in it.

It is deeply disturbing that Jews in the diaspora feel afraid to worship or openly acknowledge their Jewish identity. Wearing a yarmulke or Star of David can be dangerous to one’s safety. The false narrative that the protests following October 7 were somehow acts of resistance against genocide was spread by a biased media, like the BBC, and allowed to persist by those in power. When law enforcement remains passive while Jews are threatened in their communities with cries of death, then the West has lost its moral direction.

From New York to Ontario, across Europe and Asia, being a Jew can still be deadly. The issue goes beyond Islamist extremism and didn’t arise out of nowhere. Long-standing hostile attitudes toward Jews have fueled it. In the past decade, the Vatican has exposed a troubling undercurrent of hidden antisemitism not seen since the Spanish Inquisition.

The former Pope’s rhetoric and persistent confrontational stance toward Israel, including spreading the image of a Palestinian Jesus at a Vatican nativity scene², highlight this issue. Aside from the historical inaccuracy of Jesus’ birth—who was born a Jew in Judea—these portrayals are a disgrace to truth. Meanwhile, Hamas and its atrocities are seldom condemned. The current Pope seems to be no different. Like his predecessor, he recently criticized the US for deporting illegals; while overlooking the economic and social chaos their influx has caused in communities, many of which are also victims of crimes committed by these individuals. It’s a twisted ideology where criminals are falsely elevated to victims, and their actual victims are ignored.

When anti-Israel activists focus on a specific identity as righteous while ignoring October 7th, it highlights that antisemitism remains a serious issue. Those who dismiss or delay addressing this problem are avoiding the reality that, although not all Muslims are terrorists, it is a fact that over the past twenty years, Islamists have carried out horrific terror attacks on civilians worldwide. It is also true that the hero of the Australian massacre was a citizen with conscience and moral integrity who, without hesitation, stopped the gunman from continuing his shooting spree. It is also true that he was Muslim.

The recent terrorist attacks at Christmas Markets in Germany were targeted, not random. The attackers entered as asylum seekers, refugees, or immigrants and quickly joined extremist Islamist cells. Authorities in Hamburg and Berlin have investigated and shut down mosques that served as hubs for ISIS. The pattern remains consistent. They despise our way of life, regardless of how long they stay in our country. They do not attack the country’s military but vulnerable civilians. Nothing is more heinous than that.

In November this year, while the EU President Metsola led a remembrance of the November 15, 2015, terrorist attack in Paris, Milan Uhrík, a Europe of Sovereign Nations Group MEP, accused the EU of being complacent on the immigration issue that plagues Europe and being responsible for the millions of illegal immigrants allowed in without reservation. He portrayed a scene of barricades being erected at Christmas markets to guard against terrorist attacks. Metsola rebuked him, accusing him of exploiting the tragedy³. However, Uhrík was correct. Metsola was following the now all-too-familiar EU narrative. This self-righteous stance demonizes the truth, especially about immigration, which it forced on all sovereign countries, causing serious problems like terrorism, crime, and cultures that refuse to assimilate. Worse, Metsola and her allies refuse to acknowledge their complacency.

Unfortunately, I foresee the potential for more incidents like the Bondi Beach attack unless immigration policies undergo significant changes. It’s inevitable. Older Jewish communities in Europe and the US, such as New York City, are debating whether to move to Israel—an irony in itself. Since Israel’s supposed dominance is the reason antisemites target Jews and their property, it makes sense that pushing them out of their neighborhoods would direct them toward Israel. Wouldn’t increasing the Jewish population in Israel strengthen its supposed dominance? It seems antisemites are missing this logic.

Listening to media pundits dismiss the massacre as an Australian anomaly is not only absurd but, frankly, offensive. Jews have been targeted in major cities like Melbourne for months. Some protesters displayed Hamas and ISIS flags during a 90,000-strong pro-Palestinian protest at Sydney Harbor this August⁴. Clearly, that was not a strong enough hint that antisemitism is alive and thriving down under. Pretending that Bondi Beach is a one-off is not only ridiculous but also criminal. Despite months of Jew hatred and harassment, it is gun control that took center stage after the shooting. A common belief is that if guns are banned, the bad guys would somehow follow the law. Such shortsighted, wishful thinking and stupidity lead to good people dying on a beach while celebrating a holiday.

I don’t know what’s worse: listening to impotent, useless politicians pretend they care or listening to them deflecting responsibility for enabling a massacre that could have been prevented. The killings had nothing to do with gun laws but everything to do with permissiveness. It wasn’t about free speech; it was about sanctioned public hatred. It wasn’t about Gaza but about underlying antisemitism. So, to Albanese, Macron, Starmer, and Carney and others of their kind: thoughts and prayers will not stop antisemitism. Ending the importation of extremism and taking responsibility for its deadly goals will. While you’re at it, admit your failures as leaders who stood by while Jewish citizens in your countries were systematically attacked—and are still being targeted. Antisemitism stops with you.

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¹Elbaum,R. & Li, D.K. (January 5, 2022). Tennis star Novak Djokovic denied entry into Australia, visa canceled amid vaccine exemption furor

²Winfield, N. (December 11, 2024). Vatican’s keffiyeh Nativity scene raises eyebrows and then disappears — at least until Christmas Eve | AP News

³Europe Pulse. November 15, 2025. Metsola Rebukes Uhrík During Paris Attack Anniversary Debate

⁴Markson, S. & Karacsony, L. (August 5, 2025). Investigations launched into death chants and terrorist flags after major pro-Palestine demonstration on Sydney Harbour Bridge | Sky News Australia