By Sagarika Rastogi
Two gunmen open fire at the Hanukkah celebration, a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach on Sunday. The attack resulted in the killing of at least 15 innocent civilians and 40 people remain in the hospital by and large, including 2 police officers, according to Australian authorities. Personal information of the victims has not been divulged but their ages have been identified, ranging from 10 to 87.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese called the mass shooting “devastating”, while the Australian police are calling it a “terrorist incident”. Mr Albanese further commented that it was a “targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah. The evil that was unleashed at Bondi Beach today is beyond comprehension, and the trauma and loss that families are dealing with tonight is beyond anyone’s worst nightmare,” Albanese added.
One of the alleged shooters, Sajid Akram (he moved to the country in 1998), 50 years old, was killed at the scene, while the second gunman, his son (Naveed Akram), 24 years old, has been captured by the police but is in critical condition, according to NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon. The police commissioner further said that Sajid had six firearms licences, and six firearms were found at the scene. “Ballistics and forensic investigation will determine whether those six firearms are the six that were licensed to that man,” he said.
This situation has posed a serious question: is Australia as safe as it seems to be? The Australian authorities are under massive scrutiny to tighten the gun laws in the country. There’s been discussion around putting a cap on the open-ended ownership of arms licences as well as only permitting Australian-born citizens to hold arms, among many other strategies to ensure the country is a safer place. This carnage has been the worst in recent years, with Australia as one of the highest-ranking regions considered “safe”.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had written to his Australian counterpart, Albanese, in August, warning that the government’s decision to recognise Palestine as a state might fuel antisemitic sentiments and further blamed the Sunday attack on Bondi Beach as a consequence of Albanese’s terrible policies. He claimed Albanese had “replaced weakness with weakness and appeasement with more appeasement”. However, Albanese declined to respond directly when asked about this comment at a press conference.
For now, all we can hope is peace and normalcy be bestowed upon one of the busiest places in Sydney.