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Did Iran Orchestrate the Hannukah Murder of Jews at Bondi Beach?
As of this writing, at least two terrorist shooters have murdered 11 people at a Hannukah celebration in Bondi Beach, including Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger who was Chabad’s emissary in Sydney since 2008, and Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, who was able to shield his wife and save her from death. Thirteen are in critical condition including two police officers. Arsen Ostrovsky, a human rights lawyer and popular figure on social media who was a refusnik who fled the Soviet Union with his family to Australia in 1987, and then moved to Israel, was also wounded in the attack. The Hannukah celebration was reportedly attended by approximately 2,000 people.
But even more disturbing than Iran’s potential involvement in the recent attack, is that the Australian authorities failed to prevent such a mega attack.
In a sliver of good news, Ahmed al-Ahmad, a 43-year old Muslim fruit shop owner, succeeded in tackling and disarming one of the shooters, avoiding further loss of life. Such heroism resulted in praise from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated: “We saw an action of a brave man — turns out a Muslim brave man, and I salute him — that stopped one of these terrorists from killing innocent Jews.”
One of the gunmen has been identified as Naveed Akram from Pakistan. Mike Burgess, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), stated that “One of these individuals was known to us, but not in an immediate-threat perspective, so we need to look into what happened here.”
In the wake of that statement, one can’t help asking if Iran has its hands in this attack. Indeed, there are reports that Australia may be investigating if this is the case. Additionally, an unnamed senior Israeli security official told Israeli press outlet Israel Hayom that “in recent months there has been increased activity by Iran to orchestrate attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” adding: “There is no doubt that the direction and infrastructure for the attack originated in Tehran.”
Such an attack on the “soft targets” of Jewish religious and civil life would not be out of Iran’s wheelhouse. Australia assessed that Iran has orchestrated other recent attacks on Jews in Australia. This August, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that “The Iranian government directed at least two of these attacks. Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO [the Australian Security Intelligence Organization] assesses it was behind the attacks.” Specifically, the ASIO had established links between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and “cut-outs, including people who are criminals and members of organised [sic] crime gangs to do their bidding or direct their [IRGC’s] bidding,” according to ASIO’s chief Burgess. Albanese confirmed this assessment in that authorities were: “able to trace the chain of command, if you like, right back to the IRGC.”
Both attacks linked to Iran were arsons. The first was in October 19, 2024 in Sydney on Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company. This attack occurred close to Bondi Beach. According to Australian authorities, Sayed Moosawi, 32, directed Wayne Ogden, 41, to attack the kitchen, where the latter broke into the kitchen in the early morning and set fire to a can filled with gas, causing an estimated $1 million in damages.
The second arson occurred on December 6, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia’s Adass Israel Synagogue, where two masked men entered the synagogue, spread accelerant on the floor, and set it alight, injuring one person.
In response to the attacks, this August, Australia also expelled its Iranian ambassador, marking the first time Australia expelled an ambassador since World War II. Last month, Australia listed the IRGC listed as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Iran has also targeted Jewish civilians abroad in the past. While Israel never formally accused Iran, many intelligence officials in the West and in Israel believe that Iran orchestrated the November 2024 abduction and murder of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the UAE. (The UAE later sentenced three Uzbek nationals for these crimes, in addition to sentencing a fourth individual to life in prison.) According to the Mossad, the July 2024 arson attacks on a synagogue and an Israeli-owned hotel in Athens, Greece were directed by Iran, as were the July 2025 casing of Jewish targets in Berlin, Germany. And of course, the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires in Argentina in 1994 that killed 86 people in a Jewish community center was directed by Iran and carried out by Hezbollah, according to an Argentina court in 2024.
But even more disturbing than Iran’s potential involvement in the recent attack, is that the Australian authorities failed to prevent such a mega attack from occurring, given that the Australian Jewish community has been a target of increased harassment after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and company. Anti-Semitic incidents (both violent and non-violent) have surged from 442 in 2022 to 830 in 2023 and 1,045 in 2024.
To name a few “red flags” that the Australian authorities have apparently failed to learn from:
On October 8, 2023, Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir held a rally in Sydney where Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun stated that “I’m smiling and I’m happy. I’m elated. It’s a day of courage! It’s a day of resistance! It’s a day of pride! It’s a day of victory! This is the day we’ve been waiting for! … What happened yesterday is the first time our brothers and sisters broke through the largest prison on earth.… It didn’t happen by itself … my brothers and sisters, Palestine will be free!”;
On October 9, 2023, Palestine Action Group (PAG) held a rally at Sydney Town Hall that included chants of “Intifada, Intifada” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.”;
On October 10, 2023, four males in a car yelled to a rabbi and his 8 year old son “F***… Jew… pigs… die…” In another instance that day, people in a car were asking bystanders where Jews were, with one saying “We’re hunting for Jews.”;
On October 12, 2023, a threat of “We are coming for you soon, from western Sydney” was sent via Instagram to ECAJ, one of Australia’s main Jewish organizations (and which is located in Sydney);
On October 28, 2023, in New South Wales, a Jewish man was hospitalized after being severely beaten by a mob after identifying as Jewish and demonstrating pro-Israel sentiment in public;
On April 24, 2024, in New South Wales, the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team arrested four teenagers who called themselves “soldiers of Allah” for planning to attack a synagogue;
On November 26, 2024, a Chabad synagogue in Melbourne was graffitied with the messages “Free Gaza” and “Jews Kill babies” on the front of the synagogue and on the rabbi’s wife’s car;
On November 27, 2024, in Victoria, a projectile was fired at and exploded on a Jewish school;
On December 7, 2024, in New South Wales, a caravan was found containing explosives and a list of targets including The Great Synagogue and the Sydney Jewish Museum;
On January 10 and 11, 2025, two synagogues in Sydney (the Southern Sydney Synagogue and the Newton Synagogue) were graffitied with swastikas in two consecutive days;
On July 4, 2025, men poured a flammable liquid in front of the door of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne, Australia, setting fire to the synagogue’s front entrance. This occurred during Shabbat dinner with approximately 20 people inside the building at the time, who successfully evacuated.(A Sydney resident, Angelo Loras, pled guilty, was sentenced to only four months in prison, and the court deemed him mentally ill and not acting out of anti-Semitism); and
On July 5, 2025, about 20 masked men overran an Israeli-owned restaurant in Melbourne, chanting “death to the IDF.”
It remains to be seen if the Islamic Republic of Iran was involved in the mega-terror attack that killed 11 during Hannukah celebrations in Bondi Beach, Australia. But the attack was certainly a culmination of violent anti-Semitism in Australia that remained largely unchecked by authorities.
READ MORE from Steve Postal:
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