Members of the Australian Jewish community began arriving in tears and with Australian and Israeli flags at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Monday to pay tribute with flowers and stuffed animals to the victims of the attack the day before, in which 15 people died when two gunmen opened fire on crowds celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. A 10-year-old girl, a British rabbi and a Holocaust survivor are three of the victims of an attack that shocked Australia and prompted the country’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, to announce he would tighten gun licensing.
As police investigate possible links between the killers and the jihadist terror group Islamic State, Australia is also closely monitoring the health of Ahmed Al Ahmed, the Muslim fruit seller who disarmed one of the attackers during the attack and was hailed as a “hero”. Al Ahmed is recovering from his injuries in hospital.
How did the attack happen?
About a thousand people were celebrating the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach when two men armed with rifles opened fire on the crowd. They killed 15 people. The youngest, a 10-year-old girl; the oldest, 87 years old. Witnesses described scenes of panic, with hundreds of people trying to take shelter where they could and bodies in the sand. Later images showed health teams trying to resuscitate many of the victims, while others, already dead, lay with their faces covered.
According to the latest medical report made public this Monday by the authorities of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, 27 people remain hospitalized. Six of them are in critical condition and the others are stable. One of these injured people whose life is in danger is probably a minor since he is admitted to a children’s hospital in the city.
Who were the authors?
Australian public broadcaster ABC identified the perpetrators of the shooting as Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, father and son, two men reportedly of Pakistani origin, although there is no official confirmation of this information. The father died after being shot on Sunday, while the son is hospitalized after being shot multiple times. According to police sources, Sajid Akram had a firearms license and six of them were in his name. He had arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, which he then followed with other types of visas. Their son was born in 2001 in Australia.
What was the motivation for the attack?
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said shortly after the massacre that the attack targeted the “Australian Jewish community” and was motivated by anti-Semitic motives. Australia is the country in the world, alongside Israel, which hosts the most Holocaust survivors. This Monday, the ABC network also reported that the youngest attacker was investigated in 2019 for links to an Islamic State terrorist cell. This television assures that the two attackers had pledged allegiance to this terrorist organization, although there is no official confirmation of this information at the moment.
Who were the victims?
The youngest of the 15 people who died, Matilda, was 10 years old. According to her aunt Lina, quoted by ABC, she was a “kind and affectionate girl, who loved school and had many friends”. “She was just a happy girl,” the woman said. The juvenile died at Sydney Children’s Hospital. His little sister, witness to the attack but unharmed, “is in shock“, said their aunt.
Another victim whose identity was revealed is Eli Schlanger, a 41-year-old British-born rabbi who had recently opened a community center with his father-in-law in Sydney.
Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman also died at the beach party, which he attended with his children and grandchildren. Peter Meagher, another of the identified deceased, was a former police officer who worked as a photographer at the Hanukkah party held on Bondi Beach. Among these 15 victims, there is at least one French citizen, Dan Elkayam, as confirmed on his social network account X by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot.
Who is the “hero” who disarmed an attacker?
Australian media have identified the citizen who managed to disarm one of the murderers: according to this information, he is Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit grower, an Australian Muslim of Syrian origin. In a video of the attack that went viral, we see this man crouching between the cars, before throwing himself at the younger shooter, grabbing him from behind and struggling with him; Finally, he snatches the gun from him and points it at the attacker, who begins to retreat.
According to his cousin Jozay Alkanji, cited by Australian and international media, Al Ahmed was shot twice and was operated on on Monday in a Sydney hospital, although he will have to undergo further operations. Australian leaders and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, praised the courage of this citizen, already hailed as a “hero”.
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