Australia’s Jewish Community Mourns 16 Killed in Hanukkah Massacre
Terrorist duo identified as Indian-origin Muslims, father came “in search of employment.”
Shock turns to grief as Australia’s Jewish community mourns the victims of Sunday’s Hanukkah beach Massacre. Two terrorists, armed with rifles and explosives, went on a killing spree at a Jewish event in Sydney, murdering 16 and injuring 40 people.
“Hanukkah events and vigils were held across Australia on Monday night as thousands of mourners laid flowers and left messages to remember the 15 people killed in the terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday,” Australia’s SBS broadcaster reported. “The sails of Sydney’s Opera House were lit up on Monday night in the light of the Hanukkah menorah to honour the victims.”
The victims range from a 10-year-old girl to an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor. Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated from Ukraine, died while shielding his wife, Larisa, from the gunmen’s bullets. The youngest victim is a 10-year-old girl, Matilda. As of Tuesday evening local time, the Australian TV channel 9NEWS reported that “Those who died are yet to be formally identified, however police believe their ages range between 10 and 87 years.”
The photo of the parents of 10-year-old Matilda.
A Jewish girl killed by Islamic terrorists at Bondi Beach in Sydney while celebrating Hanukkah.
My heart goes out to them. pic.twitter.com/BYiMenAMft
— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) December 16, 2025
Some victims are still fighting for their lives. “Twenty-four people remain in several hospitals around Sydney in conditions ranging from stable to critical,” the broadcaster added.
Matilda Britvan, 10
Rabbi Eli Schlanger, 41
Alex Kleytman, 87, Holocaust survivor
Dan Elkayam, 27
Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, 39
Reuven Morrison, 62
Marika Pogany, 82
Tibor Weitzen, 78
Edith Brutman, 68
Boris Gurman, 69
Sofia Gurman, 61
Peter Meagher, 61These were the innocent lives… pic.twitter.com/Qtc0RFJdY3
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) December 16, 2025
Russian-Jewish couple Boris (69) and Sofia Gurman (61) were among those who confronted the armed terrorists with their bare hands. While Boris managed to wrestle a rifle away from a terrorist, the couple was gunned down by the terrorist duo.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Tuesday:
The Russian-Jewish couple were walking along Campbell Parade on Sunday afternoon as Sajid Akram emerged from behind the Islamic State flag on his hatchback.
Dashcam footage from a passing motorist shows Boris, 69, did not hesitate as Akram opened his car door, tackling him onto the road of one of Sydney’s busiest beach boulevards, disarming the 50-year-old and forcing the rifle from his hands.
As others hid behind a bus stop, Boris picked up Akram’s rifle, aiming it at his assailant as other cars drove by, drivers seemingly unaware of the carnage that was about to unfold.
Dashcam footage shows an elderly Jewish couple, Boris and Sofia Gurman, attacking and disarming the Sydney terrorists before they started shooting.
The effort was unfortunately unsuccessful and the couple became the first victims in the terrorist attack pic.twitter.com/asXwpMniM2
— Faytuks News (@Faytuks) December 16, 2025
Local media: Only 2 policemen on duty at Hannukkah event; Sydney’s pro-Palestinian protests get “hundreds of police officers”
While the passerby displayed exceptional courage, questions are being raised about the lack of police protection given to the Jewish festival. Regular pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city had been secured by “hundreds of police officers,” local news outlets note.
The Premier of Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) State “Chris Minns has admitted there were only two NSW Police officers at the Bondi Chanukah event when gunmen opened fire on about 1000 Australian Jews,” Sky News (Australia). Both police officers died confronting the terrorists.
The broadcaster pointed out that following the attack, “Minns was asked about why there were dozens or even hundreds of police officers attending pro-Palestinian protests in the city, yet so few assigned to a high-risk Chanukah event.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns has admitted there were only two NSW Police officers at the Bondi Chanukah event when gunmen opened fire on about 1000 Australian Jews, Sky News Australia can reveal. https://t.co/6GTsT2yBQ5
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) December 16, 2025
Terrorist duo identified as Indian-origin Muslims, father came “in search of employment”
Two days after the attack, more details about the terrorist father-and-son duo have come to light. The attackers were named as Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed, both Muslim migrants of Indian origin.
“One of the two men behind the mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday (…) was originally from Hyderabad and continues to hold an Indian passport, even though [Sajid Akram] migrated to Australia nearly three decades ago,” India’s NDTV reported Tuesday.
Sajid Akram left “India in search of employment,” the TV channel added. “He continued to hold an Indian passport, while his children – a son and a daughter — were born in Australia and are Australian citizens.”
While the father, Sajid, was shot dead by police, the son, Naveed, is at a hospital, recovering from injuries. According to The Guardian, “Alleged Bondi shooter Naveed Akram, who has been in hospital in a coma since the incident on Sunday, has regained consciousness, NSW police have confirmed.”
The duo had recently returned to Australia after terrorist training in the Philippines, intelligence sources say. “Father-son gunmen Sajid and Naveed Akram travelled to the Philippines to receive “military-style training” in the month before they killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, security sources have confirmed,” the ABC Australia reported.
Australian counter-terrorism officials have confirmed to the ABC that Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed Akram — the two gunmen responsible for killing 15 people at a Hanukkah gathering in Bondi Beach — had taken part in “military-style training” in the Philippines in the month… pic.twitter.com/HOMTSfVHJ8
— Jonathan Sacerdoti (@jonsac) December 16, 2025
They were let into the country despite their known links to Islamic terrorist groups. The broadcaster revealed that “Naveed Akram, 24, had longstanding links to members of Australia’s pro-Islamic State (IS) network — including to notorious jihadist spiritual leader Wisam Haddad and convicted IS youth recruiter Youssef Uweinat.”
🚨 BREAKING: NSW Police confirm that one of the shooters Sajid Akram (the father) was issued his firearm licence in 2023.
This was issued AFTER his son Naveed Akram (the other shooter) was on the ASIO watchlist!
This is a total failure.pic.twitter.com/GMcIjrhMOj
— R3tards Down Under (@r3tarddownunder) December 16, 2025
The Iranian regime, too, is under suspicion — given its track record. Iran has been behind recent attacks on Australia’s Jewish community. Legal Insurrection reported August 2025 that “Iran’s foreign terrorist arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), directed an arson attack on a Kosher restaurant in Sydney in October 2024 and another on a Melbourne synagogue in December, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) disclosed.”
The Iranian Ambassador was expelled from the country following these damning revelations.
The Daily Telegraph (UK) reported:
The Sydney terror attack may have been carried out by an Iranian-backed foreign terror cell, Israeli authorities believe.
Officials cited Iran as a primary suspect, and said possible links to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba were also being investigated, according to Israeli media reports. (…)
An Iranian link to the attack would follow a pattern of terror plots and attacks in Australia in recent years. (….)
Israel’s Mossad intelligence revealed in October that it had thwarted dozens of terror attacks around the world on Jewish and Israeli targets since Oct 7 2023, in countries including Greece, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Australia.
In August, Australia ordered Iran’s ambassador to leave the country after alleging Tehran had directed attacks against Jewish targets in Sydney and Melbourne, an arson attack on a cafe in Sydney in October 2024, and another on a synagogue in Melbourne in December.
Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio), said at the time that his teams had uncovered links “between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC”.
Intelligence services also said they had found evidence Iran was likely to be behind other anti-Semitic incidents in Australia, including attacks on Jewish schools, homes, vehicles and synagogues since the Oct 7 attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas, and the subsequent war in Gaza.
If Chris Minns and Magoo did their job way back on October 7 2023, the Bondi Massacre may never have occurred. Below is an image of the Bondi Shooter at the OG 'Gas The Joows' party that was allowed to happen on the steps of the Sydney Opera House with zero accountability. No… pic.twitter.com/spfxstaGfN
— Danger Dan (@DangerBunker) December 16, 2025
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Comments
“Sajid Akram left “India in search of employment,”
Let’s not kid ourselves. The employment he sought was jihad, and he found it.
Feckless western leaders (aside from Trump) fail to recognize the existential threat posed to them by islam. Islam cannot be countenanced, cannot be tolerated, cannot be condoned (get the picture?).
If you want to be a Muslim, go right ahead but remove yourself to a desert in the Middle East and confine yourself to terrorizing goats.
No, it wasn’t. He lived peacefully in Australia for decades, and didn’t become radicalized until a few years ago.
Just stop it you have no idea
None whatsoever
Excuse me, I’m telling you firmly established facts. It is a fact that Sajid Akram did not come to Australia to perform jihad, but to support his family. It is a fact that he lived there peacefully for decades, with no intention of ever breaking the law. It is a fact that that changed only a few years ago. Neither you nor Peter Moss are entitled to your own facts. So when you claim otherwise, and then claim I have no idea, you are making utter fools and liars of yourselves.
So, you don’t think that a Muslim could simultaneously harbor jihadist Jew-hatred and a simmering intent to act on that hatred, at an opportune future time, and, also want to support his family, and thus suppress his violent urges, for a time, while he works to earn money?
I’m not saying that’s precisely what occurred, here, but, your foreclosing that possibility seems a tad naive.
Remember, the assertion we’re discussing is “The employment he sought was jihad”.
If he had come for the purpose of waging jihad, he would have done so earlier. No one comes with that purpose and then lies low for decades, giving no sign of it at all, while giving every sign of having come to seek genuine employment like millions of other immigrants.
No, jihad was something he came to only a few years ago, and he immediately acted on it by going off with his son to a training camp, applying for a gun license and going through the hoops to acquire some despite all the difficulties the government puts in the way of that, and figuring out a plan for their joint ticket to Jannah.
The two police hid behind a car and let the murderers kill all these people
It’s a ritual thing. The media have to decide what the narrative is, what template it fits into, and then the predictable things happen.
One thing that happens is clickbait.
A lot of things that have happened recently are not Jews being killed. Probably a majority.
Getting rid of Islam is very difficult. It took Spain and Portugal centuries to get rid of them.
They got rid of the Jews first. Screw them.
No, it isn’t. It’s only mourning the 15 who were murdered, not the 16th casualty, who was one of the murderers and whose death is something to celebrate, not to mourn.
some jews probably are mourning him too
This is what backlash from civilized people looks like.
Australia, like the U.K., Canada, Ireland, France, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands, is a submissive, cowed, feckless and corrupt Dhimmi-state total disgrace, prostrated in submission under the Islamofascist/Muslim terrorist/Muslim supremacist bootheel/scimitar.
only the jewish community mourns????
we are allll charlie was the cry for the socialist leftists who mussy mowed down years back