Jeremy Piper / EPA
One of the deserted locations on Bondi Beach (Sydney, Australia) after the shooting
At least 12 people died and around three dozen were transported to Sydney hospitals, after an attack on the famous Australian beach of Bondi, while a Jewish celebration was taking place.
The Australian police considered a “terrorist act” against the Jewish community the shooting attack on Bondi beach, Sydney, which caused at least 12 dead.
According to various media, the 12 dead included one of the two attackers, with three dozen injured people transported to hospitals in the area.
According to the governor of the Australian state of New South Wales, Chris Remembers“this attack targeted Sydney’s Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah”, a Jewish festival that was being celebrated at that time by the crowd on the beach.
The head of the state police, Mal Landclassified the attack as “terrorist”due to the type of action of the two suspects and the use of semi-automatic weapons.
It was a day of celebration for the community
Hundreds of people gathered for an event on Bondi beach celebrating the start of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
Police said “several suspicious items located nearby” were being examined by specialist officers, including an improvised explosive device found in one of the suspect’s cars.
Lanyon said the death toll from the shooting was “fluid” and that wounded people were still arriving at hospitals.
Unlikely hero in Bondi Beach
Footage apparently filmed by a member of the public and broadcast on Australian television channels showed someone apparently taking down and disarming one of the gunmen.
BREAKING – Shocking footage.
Aussie hero has potentially saved multiple lives.— ConservativeAussie (@ConservativeeAu)
A British tourist told French news agency AFP that he saw “two gunmen dressed in black and armed with semi-automatic rifles”.
Lachlan Moran32, from Melbourne, was waiting for his family nearby when he heard gunshots, he told the Associated Press news agency.
“I heard some pops, I panicked and I ran away. I started running. I had this intuition. I ran as fast as I could,” said Moran, who heard intermittent gunshots for about five minutes.
“Everyone dropped their belongings and everything they had and started running, people were crying, it was horrible,” he added.
The 2 dogs in Bondi Beach have been neutralised
— Sam E (@Sm137023)
“Totally predictable tragedy”
For his part, the leader of the Jewish Association of Australia classified the attack as a “tragedy”but considered that it was “totally predictable”given what he considered to be a wave of anti-Semitism in the country.
The government “was repeatedly warned but did not take action suitable for protect the Jewish community”stated Robert Gregory to the French news agency AFP.
“Our heart is with them. The heart of the entire nation of Israel beats strong at this very moment, as we pray for the recovery of the injured, we pray for them and we pray for those who lost their lives”, said in an official statement, the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog.
“We repeatedly reiterate our warning to the Australian government to act and combat the enormous wave of anti-Semitism plaguing Australian society,” he added.
The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, in a statement, that his thoughts were with everyone affected.
Deaths in mass shootings are extremely rare in Australia. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian city of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, led the government to drastically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms.
