A peaceful Hanukkah gathering at Bondi Beach was turned into a scene of horror on December 14, 2025, when two gunmen opened fire, leaving a dozen dead and dozens wounded in what Australian authorities have declared a terrorist incident. This was not random violence — it targeted Jewish Australians celebrating a sacred holiday, and it exposed how fragile our security has become when ideology and open-door policies collide with extremist intent.
Canberra’s decision earlier this year to formally recognise a Palestinian state has been sold as a moral posture and a diplomatic nicety, but actions have consequences — and critics warned recognition could be exploited by terrorists and weaken Israel’s security. Australia’s pivot toward recognising Palestinian statehood in September 2025 came amid fierce debate, and the timing now looks reckless to any patriot who believes statecraft must be balanced with the hard realities of terrorism.
Intelligence warnings were reportedly passed between allies before this massacre, underscoring the predictable fallout of political decisions that ignore security realities; Israeli officials had flagged threats to Australian authorities, and Australia’s domestic spy agency has kept the national threat level at “probable.” When governments play diplomatic ball with factions that haven’t repudiated terror, communities pay the price in blood — and Canberra must answer how this recognition squares with protecting citizens.
Senator Lindsey Graham and other national-security hawks were right to sound the alarm on Sunday Morning Futures: legitimizing a Palestinian state without ironclad safeguards against terror groups hands radicals a propaganda victory and makes our allied capitals less safe. If Western governments insist on symbolic gestures while refusing to confront the ideology that fuels mass murder, they will be judged by the bodies left in the streets and the broken lives of victims’ families.
At the same time, American soldiers are paying the price of global terror as well — two U.S. service members and a civilian interpreter were killed in an ambush near Palmyra, Syria, a grim reminder that ISIS and its affiliates still stalk the region and will strike wherever Western forces and partners operate. CENTCOM confirmed the ambush and the loss, and U.S. leaders have vowed to hold the killers to account; there must be no ambiguity about American resolve when our troops are targeted overseas.
The twin tragedies — Bondi and Palmyra — demand a sober rebuke to the elites who think diplomacy detached from deterrence is a policy. Washington and our allies should pause congratulating themselves on symbolic recognitions and instead harden borders, tighten intelligence sharing, and crush terror networks with decisive force while supporting Israel’s right to defend its people. Our priority has to be protecting innocent lives, not rewarding bad actors with the trappings of statehood.
Finally, America must stand with the victims and with Israel, support our troops, and insist that Western governments put security before virtue signalling. We owe a debt to brave bystanders and first responders who stopped further carnage at Bondi, and we owe justice to the families of the fallen in Syria; the proper response is strength, unity, and a refusal to be naïve about the enemies we face.
