The two men who opened fire on Australian Jews on Sydney’s Bondi Beach this Sunday killed 15 people, but there could have been more without the actions of Ahmed al-Ahmed, the man whom the Australian media, the country’s government and even United States President Donald Trump have hailed as a “hero.” Al Ahmed, a 43-year-old Australian of Syrian origin, managed to wrest the rifle from one of the attackers, but received “between four and five bullets in the shoulder”, his parents said on Monday on the public channel ABC. “It does not discriminate between one nationality and another. Especially here in Australia, there is no difference between one citizen and another,” Al Ahmed’s parents said.
Al Ahmed underwent surgery this Monday at St. George Hospital in Sydney and is in serious but stable condition, as confirmed a few hours earlier by the country’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, during a press conference. The first images of the injured man show him lying on a hospital bed chatting with Chris Minns, Prime Minister of the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located.
Another of his relatives, his cousin Mustafa al Asaad, claimed to have also spoken with Al Ahmed and assured that the man told him that “he could not bear” to see so many people dying and that “God gave him the strength to prevent this person (the attacker) from continuing to kill”, this relative told the Al Araby television channel.
The man hailed as a “hero” is an Australian citizen of Syrian origin, born in Idlib 43 years ago, arriving in the country in 2006, his parents detailed on the country’s public television. He has two daughters aged six and three and owns two fruit stores in a Sydney suburb, according to local media.
Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed and Malika Hasan al Ahmed said their son was having coffee with a friend in Bondi, where the beach where the attack took place, when he heard gunshots. According to the man’s father, Al Ahmed saw one of the shooters crouching behind a tree. When he thought he had no more ammunition, Al Ahmed, who was waiting crouched between two cars, approached the shooter from behind, threw himself at him and, after struggling, managed to snatch the rifle from his hands before pointing it at him. Then he drops the gun, and in another video he appears on the ground injured while other people try to help him.
“When he did what he did, my son didn’t think about the origins of the people he was saving, the people who were dying in the streets,” said Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed. He and his wife feel “proud and honored” by what their son has done, they told Australian media.
Al Ahmed took the risk of disarming the attacker, considering it a “humanitarian act”, Mustafa al Assad, the man’s cousin, told the Al Araby network.
“When he saw people dying and their families slaughtered, he couldn’t stand it.” His action “was a matter of conscience and he is very proud if he managed to save even one life,” he said, citing a conversation he said he had with Al Ahmed. The “hero” also told him that “God gave him strength” and that then he thought “he was going to stop this person who was killing people”.
Another cousin of the man, identified by Australian media as Jozay Aljinki, explained at the hospital gates to several television stations that Al Ahmed would likely undergo two more surgeries, in addition to the first confirmed by Prime Minister Albanese. Al Ahmed took “a lot of medication and cannot speak well,” the relative explained.
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese previously praised during his appearance before the press how Al Ahmed “took the attacker’s weapon at great risk to himself and suffered injuries for which he is undergoing surgery in hospital.” For the country’s head of government, his performance was an example of “the unity of Australians”.
Even United States President Donald Trump joined the chorus of praise, calling Al Ahmed “a very, very courageous person” who saved many lives. Chris Minns, Premier of New South Wales, described him as “a true hero” and said the video was “the most incredible scene I have ever seen”.
A campaign was even created on a crowdfunding platform (crowdfunding) to collect donations for Al Ahmed. In just 12 hours, 500,000 Australian dollars (more than 282,000 euros) had already been raised. American Jewish billionaire Bill Ackman was the largest donor, contributing almost 56,000 euros of the total amount.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also praised Al Ahmed’s action on Sunday in a video that sparked controversy because he claimed that the man who overpowered one of the attackers was “a Jew.”
Speaking about the attack, the prime minister said: “We also saw Jewish heroism at its best… I saw a video of a Jew throwing himself at one of the killers, taking his gun and saving who knows how many lives. »
Although it has not been confirmed whether Al Ahmed professes a religion, many social media users claim that this Australian is Muslim, due to his Syrian origin and his name, which is very common among believers of this faith. Also in the fact that his mother wears the Islamic hijab in her statements to the ABC television channel, and they criticized Netanyahu for assuming that she was dealing with a Jew.
At the gates of St George Hospital in Sydney, where Al Ahmed is being treated, anonymous citizens also gathered this Monday to show their admiration.
Misha and Veronica Pochuev are two of these people, who came to the hospital with their seven-year-old daughter to leave her a bouquet of flowers. “My husband is Russian, my father is Jewish, my grandfather is Muslim. This doesn’t just concern Bondi (where the beach where the attack took place), it concerns everyone,” the woman told Reuters.
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