“What we saw yesterday was an anti-Semitic and terrorist act on our beaches,” Albanese said as he laid flowers at the site.
The attackers, a father and son, were identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram, according to police in the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located. The first, aged 50, was killed by the police, and the second, aged 24, was injured and hospitalized in critical condition. The two men used “long-range weapons to shoot into the crowd,” according to deputies.
Naveed Akram, an Australian citizen by birth, according to the Department of the Interior, was suspected of having contact with a member of the Islamic State (IS) group, arrested in July 2019 and found guilty of organizing a terrorist act in Australia.
His father first arrived in the country on a student visa in 1998, according to Home Secretary Tony Burke. In 2001, he obtained a visa granted to spouses of Australian citizens or permanent residents. The 50-year-old man had licenses for six firearms, all of which were used Sunday, police said.
Investigators from the Australian anti-terrorism brigade believe that the two shooters pledged allegiance to the jihadist group, according to public channel ABC. Two IS flags were found in the attackers’ car.
Who are the victims?
According to police, the two shooters killed 15 people, aged 10 to 87. The ten-year-old girl died in hospital. A 27-year-old French computer engineer, Dan Elkayam, was also among the victims, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.
Local Jewish organizations identified among the dead a London-born rabbi, Eli Schlanger, 41. Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor, also died, according to the Hasidic Jewish organization Chabad.
Forty-two people were hospitalized overnight, including five in critical condition. Among the injured were two police officers who were hit during an exchange of fire with the attackers.
France opens investigation
An investigation was opened in France for “assassination in relation to a terrorist organization” and “attempted assassination in relation to a terrorist organization”. The investigation is entrusted to the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) and the Anti-Terrorism Sub-Directorate (Sdat) of the National Directorate of the Judicial Police.
“The main objective of this investigation is to allow victims and members of their families residing in France to have access to information on the progress of the investigations carried out by the French and Australian judicial authorities and, on the other hand, to provide support, assistance or technical expertise to the Australian judicial authorities,” we can read in the press release.
Who is the young Frenchman who died in the attack
Dan Elkayam, a young 27-year-old computer engineer, football enthusiast and traveler, is the French victim of the attack against the Jews in Sydney. He moved to Australia a year ago.
On behalf of the “devastated” family, his brother Jérémie Elkayam described it Monday morning on the radio. Franceinfoas “a person worth his weight in gold”. “We are four brothers and, to me, he was the nicest of all,” said Jérémie, who “could never believe something like this could happen” in Australia.
He described his brother as “someone who loved life, was not materialistic and loved to travel.” Over the past three years, he has traveled to Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia, where he has worked since December 2024 as a computer engineer.
The president of Crif (Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions), Yonathan Arfi, indicated that he spoke on Sunday evening with the parents of Dan Elkayam to express “his solidarity and his emotion” on behalf of French Jewish institutions.
It is with great sadness that we learned that our compatriot Dan Elkayam was among the victims of the despicable terrorist attack which struck Jewish families gathered on Bondi Beach in Sydney on the first day of Hanukkah.
We cry with his…
— Jean-Noël Barrot (@jnbarrot) December 14, 2025
The young man’s family is now in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to organize the repatriation of the body. The announcement of his death was made early Sunday evening by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot.
“It is with immense sadness that we learn that our compatriot Dan Elkayam is among the victims of the despicable terrorist attack which targeted Jewish families gathered on Bondi Beach in Sydney on the first day of Hanukkah,” he wrote in X. The minister spoke of “a revolting wave of anti-Semitic hatred that we must resist.”
A man mistaken for a shooter
A man who lives in Sydney says he received death threats after his photo was shared on social media as one of the Bondi shooters. The photo is taken from the Facebook profile of Naveed Akram, who pleaded in a video released by the Pakistani consulate in Sydney to put an end to the rumours.
“One of the shooters is Naveed Akram, and my name is Naveed Akram as well,” he said. “It’s not me, I have nothing to do with this incident or with this person,” he said, condemning the massacre. “I want everyone to help me stop this propaganda,” he added, asking users to report accounts using his photo, originally posted in 2019.
According to him, his family in Pakistan also received calls. “I’m terrified. I can’t go out, my life is in danger, so I don’t want to take any risks. My family is also worried, it’s a very difficult time for me.” The 30-year-old moved to Australia in 2018 to study at Central Queensland University, then completed a master’s degree at the Holmes Institute in Sydney.
World leaders react to attack
The attack was described as a “terrorist” act by police and Australian authorities on Sunday evening, and on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese again denounced a “purely evil, anti-Semitic and terrorist act”.
US President Donald Trump called the attack “terrible” and “purely anti-Semitic”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “Europe stands with Australia and Jewish communities around the world.”
In Israel, President Isaac Herzog called “very cruel attacks against Jews” carried out by “despicable terrorists.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced a “cancer that spreads when leaders remain silent and do not act.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed solidarity.
The attack makes the cover of major French newspapers
The terrorist attack on Bondi Beach in Sydney made the cover of the main French newspapers this Monday (15).
“Anti-Semitic terror”, headlines the newspaper Releasewhich reminds us that the tragedy occurs in a context of increasing violence against Jews across the world. It was the worst terrorist attack in Australia, which adopted one of the strictest gun controls on the planet after the 1996 massacre.
The newspaper The World underlines that the young man was monitored by the authorities because of his proximity to radicalized individuals.
THE Le Figaro recalls that Australia has experienced an increase in violence against the Jewish community since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip. Over the past year, synagogues in Sydney and Melbourne have been covered in graffiti and attempted fires.
Restaurants, stores and places frequented by Australian Jews have also been targeted since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip. In August, the Australian government held Tehran responsible for the attacks and expelled the Iranian ambassador from the country.
The newspaper The Parisian highlighted the heroic act of Ahmed al Ahmed, a fruit seller in Sydney, who managed to immobilize one of the terrorists and take away his machine gun. According to the Australian press, this 43-year-old father was hit by gunfire and is hospitalized.
With agencies
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