Jewish official says warnings ignored before deadly Hanukkah terror attack

Within the wake of a lethal terror assault throughout a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Seashore, Dionne Taylor, a senior determine in the neighborhood, says essentially the most painful actuality is that the violence didn’t come with out warning.

“We now have been utterly failed by our authorities,” Taylor, the communications supervisor for the Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council, instructed Fox Information Digital in a Zoom interview. “We warned them that this snowball impact would occur, and it was solely a matter of time earlier than somebody would die.”

The capturing befell on Sunday night throughout a public Hanukkah occasion on Bondi Seashore, killing at the very least 15 individuals and wounding dozens, in response to Reuters and The Related Press. Australian authorities have described the assault as an act of terror focusing on the Jewish group.

Police mentioned the suspected attackers had been a father and his grownup son. The daddy was killed on the spot, whereas the son was shot by police and brought to a hospital in vital situation.

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A member of the Jewish group reacts as he walks with police to the scene of a capturing on Sydney’s Bondi Seashore on December 14, 2025. (David Grey/AFP through Getty Photos)

Taylor, who lives a 10-minute stroll from Bondi Seashore, mentioned the assault was not an remoted act of violence however the fruits of years of escalating anti-Semitism that authorities have did not deal with.

“It began with hate speech,” she mentioned. ‘Then graffiti. Then public demonstrations. Then firebombing synagogues, kindergartens, individuals’s homes, individuals’s automobiles. And now homicide.’

She mentioned Jewish leaders and group representatives repeatedly sounded the alarm to state and federal officers, warning that inaction would result in bloodshed. Taylor pointed to formal submissions and an in depth report from Australia’s particular envoy to fight anti-Semitism, which she mentioned was acknowledged by the federal government however by no means carried out.

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A member of the general public leaves the scene along with her baby, who is roofed in an emergency blanket, following a capturing at Bondi Seashore on December 14, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. Two gunmen wearing black fired a number of pictures at Sydney’s world-famous Bondi Seashore, wounding at the very least ten and killing three, and inflicting mass panic on Sunday night. (Picture by George Chan/Getty Photos)

As a substitute, Taylor mentioned, the Jewish group acquired what she described as empty reassurances. “We’re receiving these one-line messages that there’s ‘no place for anti-Semitism in Australia’,” she mentioned. ‘However they’re empty guarantees. No motion has been taken.”

Taylor mentioned the dearth of motion has had wider penalties for Australian society as an entire.

“There have been a lot of conditions which have led to the whole erosion of social cohesion right here in Australia, relaxed immigration insurance policies, the letting in of too many refugees from the incorrect locations, an increase of radical Islamism and a mainly slick authorities that actually has not assisted or supported the Jewish group and different communities,” Taylor mentioned. “So this assault, whereas it was a focused assault on the Jewish group, is definitely a focused assault throughout Australia.”

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Individuals stroll as cops stand guard on the road after a capturing incident on Bondi Seashore, in Sydney, Australia, December 14, 2025. (Jeremy Piper/AAP through Reuters)

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Bondi Seashore, she famous, is among the nation’s most iconic and densely populated public areas, attracting vacationers and locals from all around the world. “Individuals sitting on the seaside final night time weren’t simply there for the Hanukkah pageant,” Taylor mentioned. “Sure, the individuals who had been shot had been individuals within the pageant, however there are a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals sitting on that seaside on a Sunday afternoon. It is summer time. It is precisely what has been described because the happiest place on the planet.”

“But it surely’s not that anymore,” she added. “We’re damaged. Our nation is ruined.”

The victims, Taylor mentioned, included a 10-year-old woman who later died of her wounds and a Holocaust survivor who had sought refuge in Australia a long time earlier.

‘Australia is residence to [one of] the most important group of Holocaust survivors,” she mentioned. “They got here right here searching for peace and safety, a greater life. And now certainly one of them has grow to be a sufferer of terrorism right here.”

The violence additionally hit near residence for Taylor’s group. She mentioned Arsen Ostrovsky, the newly appointed head of AIJAC’s Sydney workplace, was shot on the pageant and stays in hospital.

“He returned to Australia together with his spouse and youngsters simply two weeks in the past,” Taylor mentioned. “He survived the post-October 7 reporting in Israel, and now he has fallen sufferer to the identical bloodshed right here.”

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Emergency employees transport an individual on a stretcher after a reported capturing at Bondi Seashore in Sydney, Sunday, December 14, 2025. (Mark Baker/AP Picture)

Australian leaders condemned the assault and vowed to evaluate safety and counter-terrorism measures. Police presence round synagogues and Jewish establishments has been elevated and Hanukkah occasions throughout the nation have been canceled.

Taylor mentioned the trauma in her own residence has led to painful conversations about whether or not Australia stays a protected place to boost a Jewish household.

“After October 7, many individuals made plans to make aliyah to Israel,” she mentioned. ‘We mentioned it as a household. We now have determined that our lives are higher right here. And now we ask ourselves: how is our life right here higher?’

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Police groups take safety measures at Bondi Seashore in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday following a terrorist assault focusing on the Jewish group on the primary night time of Hanukkah. (Claudio Galdames A/Anadolu through Getty Photos)

She mentioned the assist from non-Jewish Australians has been overwhelming, with individuals queuing to donate blood and looking for assist. Nonetheless, she warned that the federal government should act decisively.

“I hope it is a massive wake-up name for our present administration,” Taylor mentioned. “That is an assault on all of Australia. In order that they’ve misplaced 15 of their residents in sooner or later and so they’re powerless to cease it. So if they can not make modifications and enhancements to not solely shield the Jewish group, but in addition shield the broader Australian group from terrorism, then they need to. And I consider they know they’ve to try this. I simply do not suppose they know the way.”