A horrific terrorist attack struck a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025, leaving a community shattered and scores wounded. Witnesses described chaos as gunmen opened fire on families gathered for the holiday, and Australian authorities quickly declared the incident a terrorist attack targeted at Jews. This was not random violence — it was cold-blooded, ideologically driven antisemitism that demanded immediate, uncompromising condemnation.
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made no attempt to soften his words, condemning the attack and publicly blaming political decisions abroad that he says have emboldened Jew-haters. Netanyahu pointed to the Australian government’s posture on Palestinian statehood and warned that symbolic gestures without security follow-through amount to appeasement that endangers Jewish communities worldwide. Leaders who shrug at rising hatred cannot be surprised when that hatred turns murderous; silence is not neutrality, it is complicity.
Netanyahu’s criticism recalls a blunt letter he sent to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in August, warning that calls to recognize a Palestinian state were “pouring fuel on the antisemitic fire” and urging concrete action before the Jewish New Year. That missive, which publicly called out Western leaders for replacing deterrence with concessions, was not partisan grandstanding but a plea for plain political common sense: do not reward terrorists with recognition while your own Jews are left to fend for themselves. Words have consequences, and when governments signal weakness, extremists hear an invitation.
Australians and their leaders now face uncomfortable questions that should make every decent person uneasy: did public policy and rhetorical support for Palestinian statehood create the conditions for this surge in violence? Netanyahu’s argument — that appeasement can embolden violent actors and feed street-level antisemitism — is a rebuke many on the center-left in the West should consider rather than dismiss as trotting out old grievances. If governments want to protect minorities, they must be willing to call out radicalism wherever it grows and enforce law and order without fear or favor.
The Albanese government has condemned the attack, convened a national security meeting, and pledged to pursue those responsible, but words alone will not repair the wounds or undo the terrible human cost. Australian security agencies reportedly knew at least one of the suspects, raising painful questions about intelligence, thresholds for intervention, and the resources devoted to protecting vulnerable communities. If leadership means anything, it means acting decisively to prevent the next atrocity rather than offering platitudes after lives are lost.
Hardworking Australians and patriots everywhere should demand firmer protection for Jewish neighbors, tougher enforcement against hate networks, and an end to the moral equivocation that excuses violence in the name of diplomacy. Western governments must choose between appeasement and security; the choice should be obvious to anyone who values life and liberty. Now is the time for action, not finger-wagging lectures — for concrete steps that keep families safe and send a clear message that antisemitism will be met with the full force of the law.
