The carnage at Bondi Beach on December 14 exposed a horror Australia has been pretending couldn’t happen here — a terror attack aimed squarely at a peaceful Hanukkah celebration that left families shattered and communities scarred. This was not random violence; it was a targeted strike against Jews gathered to celebrate, and it tore through the false comfort of complacency that so many in power keep selling the public.
Sky News Australia host Sharri Markson called it exactly what it is: the result of antisemitism left unchecked, and the moment to stop treating assaults on Jewish Australians as mere political noise. For months, conservative voices and community leaders warned about a steady escalation of Jew-hatred in Australia, but too many in the political class either looked away or tried to turn the problem into a talking point.
The spike in antisemitic incidents was real and alarming long before Bondi — thousands of reported episodes in the year leading up to the massacre show this wasn’t an isolated trend but a brewing crisis that demanded decisive action. When the government lectures the public about tolerance while failing to clamp down on violent rhetoric and street-level intimidation, it gives cover to extremists and betrays vulnerable communities.
This is not about silencing legitimate debate over foreign policy; it’s about accountability. Too many in the media and in government have normalized incendiary language and one-sided condemnations that fan the flames, and the result is predictable: words become assaults, and assaults become bloodshed. Conservatives have been warning that moral clarity and firm law enforcement are essential — and now the toll of weakness is painfully obvious.
Australia must stop pretending that soft responses, symbolic statements, and press releases are substitutes for real policy. We need immediate, practical measures: tougher policing of extremist networks, swift prosecution of hate crimes, and real protections for places of worship and community events. Law-and-order is not a partisan slogan here — it is the difference between safety and scenes like Bondi.
We should also celebrate the bravery that did manifest that night: ordinary Australians who stepped between danger and the innocent, whose courage prevented even worse loss of life. Their actions remind us that civic virtue still exists outside the precincts of elite institutions, and that the state must support and not abandon those who protect our values.
If Australians want to remain a free, tolerant, and cohesive nation, we must stop indulging ideologies that excuse violence in the name of grievance and start demanding accountability from institutions that foster it. That means auditing soft-on-extremism policies, properly funding counterterrorism resources, and refusing to let identity politics excuse or conceal hate. The right response is practical, muscular, and unapologetically protective of every Australian’s right to worship and gather in peace.
To the Jewish families grieving in Bondi and to every Australian worried about what comes next: conservatives stand with you, and we demand action now. This is a time for clear-eyed leadership, not performative words; for enforcing the law without fear or favor; and for rebuilding the sense of safety that Australians deserve.
