Was an antisemitic attack in Australia inevitable?
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2025
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The world was shocked to see the scenes at Bondi Beach – one of Australia’s most iconic locations – after 15 people were shot dead and dozens more injured when two gunmen opened fire on members of the Jewish community at a Hanukkah celebration.
What did intelligence and law authorities know of the suspects – a father and son - and what more could have been done to confront a rise in antisemitic attacks across Australia?
Niall is joined by Sky’s Nicole Johnston – who was at the scene within an hour – and finds out more about the sense of inevitability and foreboding amongst Australian Jews with Josh Roose – an associate professor of politics, specialising in extremism, at Deakin University.
Producers: Tom Gillespie & Emily Hulme
Editor: Mike Bovill
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sky News, the full story first. |
| 0:09.2 | Coming up, a massacre on Bondi Beach speaks very directly to a rise in Australian anti-Semitism. |
| 0:16.2 | Politicians talk of unity and tolerance as the security services investigate, |
| 0:20.6 | but could both have done more to actually stop this from happening. |
| 0:27.4 | It's been described as the worst ever terrorist attack on Australian soil. |
| 0:31.9 | Members of the Jewish community had gathered on Sydney's Bondi Beach. |
| 0:35.9 | Their purpose was nothing more than to begin the Hanukkah celebrations, |
| 0:39.5 | the Jewish Festival of Light. |
| 0:41.5 | Yet it was darkness that came to define the day. |
| 0:45.1 | A pair of attackers opened fire indiscriminately. |
| 0:48.5 | One of the alleged gunman has been named by New South Wales Police |
| 0:51.7 | as 24-year-old Navid Akram, |
| 0:54.1 | while the other has been identified locally as as 24-year-old Navid Akram, while the other has been |
| 0:55.2 | identified locally as his 50-year-old father, Sajid Akram. At the time of recording, 15 are dead, |
| 1:02.8 | 16, if you include one of the attackers, the father. But many more are in a serious condition |
| 1:08.6 | in hospital. Frankly, the death toll would have been significantly higher, were it not for the bravery of those who ran right into the line of fire to help? |
| 1:16.4 | Now, obviously, the investigation is at a very early stage, but that will do little to stop the clamour for answers. |
| 1:22.8 | Answers to questions like, could this have been prevented? |
| 1:26.0 | And are Jews safe anywhere? We're going to |
| 1:29.7 | be discussing the rise in Australian anti-Semitism in a little while with Josh Roos. He's an Australian |
| 1:35.1 | experts on violent extremism and terrorism. But we're going to start with our correspondent in Sydney, |
| 1:40.7 | Nicole Johnston. Nicole, Bondi Beach is one of those places that is known around the world. |
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