The mass shooting at Bondi Beach that slaughtered attendees at a Hanukkah celebration has ripped the veil off the lie that western cities are safe from Islamist terror, with reports confirming at least 15 dead and dozens wounded in what Australian leaders have called a targeted antisemitic attack. This was not random violence; it was an attack on a religious community celebrating a holy day, and Australians are rightly asking how it could happen on a public beach in broad daylight.
Israel’s prime minister did not mince words, accusing the Australian government of allowing antisemitism to fester and warning that weakness and appeasement only fuel the cancer of Jew-hatred. Netanyahu’s blunt letter and public comments should wake every freedom-loving nation: when leaders coddle grievance and tolerate hate speech, evil finds an opening.
Investigations are already tracing the attackers’ movements abroad, with Reuters reporting one suspect killed at the scene and the surviving suspect — a son now facing murder and terrorism charges — having recently stayed in the Philippines before the massacre. These travel and behavioral patterns scream the need for aggressive, unapologetic counterterrorism work rather than the limp reassurances of bureaucrats who prefer optics to outcomes.
Back in Canberra and in New South Wales, political leaders are scrambling to respond, promising inquiries and new hate-speech laws as the nation mourns and asks for real solutions. That should be a lesson to American politicians: platitudes and task forces after a massacre are not enough; legal teeth, clear enforcement, and prevention programs must follow immediately.
President Trump used a White House Hanukkah reception to condemn the Bondi massacre and to warn Americans that anti-Jewish sentiment is on the rise in Congress and in parts of our culture, reminding the nation that the fight against antisemitism is not abstract but urgent. His remarks — and the administration’s promises to use executive tools to confront campus and institutional antisemitism — are the kind of leadership that must be matched by concrete action across federal, state, and local levels.
Conservatives who care about national security should be blunt: the era of welcoming every demand for more permissive borders, softer vetting, and neutral rhetoric toward Islamist extremism has proved dangerous. Congress and the executive branch have already held hearings and briefings about rising antisemitic threats on American soil; now they must move from talk to relentless prevention.
What does that look like in practice? It means beefed-up protections for synagogues, schools, and public gatherings; real intelligence sharing with allies and local police; strict enforcement against hate speech that crosses into incitement; and immigration and travel policies that prioritize national security over virtue signaling. If leaders refuse to choose safety over popularity, more funerals like Bondi’s will come to places we thought were safe.
If America means what it says about standing with Jewish people and with victims of Islamist terror, now is the moment for bold, unflinching action. Stop appeasing radicals, fund security, crack down on violent networks, and restore a culture that refuses to normalize antisemitism or any form of targeted hatred. Our citizens deserve a government that treats their safety as nonnegotiable, and patriots must demand nothing less.
