World
Father and son behind Bondi Jewish festival shooting that killed 15, Australian police say
Two alleged gunmen who killed 15 people at a Jewish celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach were a father and son, police said on Monday, as Australia began mourning victims of its worst gun violence in almost 30 years.
The father, a 50-year-old, was killed at the scene, taking the number of dead to 16, while his 24-year-old son was in a critical condition in hospital, police said at a press conference on Monday. The father and son were identified as Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, respectively, by state broadcaster ABC and other local media outlets, Reuters reported.
Officials have described Sunday’s shooting as a targeted antisemitic attack.
Forty people remain in hospital following the attack, including two police officers who are in a serious but stable condition, police said. The victims were aged between 10 and 87.
Witnesses said the attack at the famed beach, which was packed on a hot evening, lasted about 10 minutes, sending hundreds of people scattering along the sand and into nearby streets.
Police said around 1,000 people had attended the targeted Hanukkah event, which was held in a small park off the beach.
A bystander captured on video tackling and disarming an armed man during the attack has been hailed as a hero whose actions saved lives. 7News Australia named him as Ahmed al Ahmed, citing a relative, who said the 43-year-old fruit shop owner had been shot twice and had undergone surgery.
A fundraising page for the man had raised more than A$350,000 ($233,000) by Monday afternoon.
Police did not release the shooters’ names, but said the father had held a firearms license since 2015 and had six licensed weapons.
Home Minister Tony Burke said the father arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, while his son is an Australian-born citizen.
Police did not provide details about the firearms, but videos from the scene showed the men firing what appeared to be a bolt-action rifle and a shotgun.
“We are very much working through the background of both persons. At this stage, we know very little about them,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters.
Bondi local Morgan Gabriel, 27, said she had been heading to a nearby cinema when she heard what she thought were fireworks, before people started running up her street.
“I sheltered about six or seven. Two of them were actually my close friends, and the rest were just people that were on the street. But people, their phones had been left down the beach, and everyone was just trying to get away,” she said.
“It’s a very sad time this morning… Normally, like on a Monday or any morning, it’s packed. People are swimming, surfing, running. So this is very, very quiet. And there’s definitely a solemn sort of vibe.”
A makeshift memorial with flowers and Israeli and Australian flags was set up at the Bondi pavilion and an online condolence book was established. Police and private Jewish security guards wearing earpieces were positioned around as mourners paid respects and laid flowers.
WORLD LEADERS CONDEMN THE ATTACK
Authorities said they were confident only two attackers were involved in the incident, after previously saying they were checking whether a third offender was involved.
At the suspects’ home in Bonnyrigg, a suburb around 36 km (22 miles) west of the CBD, there was a heavy police presence on Monday, with a cordon wrapping around several neighbouring houses.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Bondi Beach on Monday morning to lay flowers near the scene of the attack.
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location,” Albanese told reporters.
“The Jewish community are hurting today. Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together.”
Albanese later urged Australians to light a candle in solidarity with the Jewish community “to show that light will indeed defeat darkness – part of what Hanukkah celebrates”, he said.
Albanese said several world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron had reached out and offered condolences and support.
Sunday’s shootings were the most serious in a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had warned Albanese that Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood would fuel antisemitism.
In August, Australia accused Iran of directing at least two antisemitic attacks and gave Tehran’s ambassador a week to leave the country.
‘SAW BODIES ON THE GROUND’
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, one of the world’s safest countries. Sunday’s attack was the worst since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site in the southern island state of Tasmania.
Rabbi Mendel Kastel, whose brother-in-law Eli Schlanger was killed in Sunday’s attack, said it had been a harrowing evening.
“You can very easily become very angry and try to blame people, turn on people but that’s not what this is about. It’s about a community,” he said.
“We need to step up at a time like this, be there for each other, and come together. And we will, and we will get through this, and we know that. The Australian community will help us do it,” he added.
Local woman Danielle, who declined to give her surname, was at the beach when the shooting occurred and raced to collect her daughter, who was attending a bar mitzvah at a function centre near where the alleged shooters were positioned.
“I heard there was a shooting so I bolted there to get my daughter, I could hear gunshots, I saw bodies on the ground. We are used to being scared, we have felt this way since October 7.”
Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. The attack precipitated Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Australia’s Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including Bondi.
Major cities including Berlin, London and New York stepped up security around Hanukkah events on Sunday following the attack at Bondi.
World
Trump rejects latest Iranian proposal to end war, US official says
According to officials familiar with the discussions, Iran’s latest plan would delay talks over its nuclear program until after the fighting ends and maritime disputes in the Gulf are resolved.
U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly dissatisfied with Iran’s latest proposal aimed at ending the two-month conflict between the two countries, according to a U.S. official, raising fresh doubts over prospects for a ceasefire.
The renewed diplomatic setback comes as the war continues to disrupt global energy markets, drive inflation concerns and deepen regional instability.
According to officials familiar with the discussions, Iran’s latest plan would delay talks over its nuclear program until after the fighting ends and maritime disputes in the Gulf are resolved.
That approach is believed to have angered Trump, whose administration insists that any agreement must address Iran’s nuclear activities from the outset.
A U.S. official briefed on a Monday meeting between Trump and senior advisers said the president was unhappy with the proposal because it postponed one of Washington’s core demands.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales declined to discuss negotiations publicly, saying the United States “will not negotiate through the press” and had already made its red lines clear.
Iranian officials say their proposal envisions a phased process beginning with an immediate end to U.S. and Israeli military operations, followed by guarantees against renewed attacks.
The next stage would address the U.S. naval blockade and the future of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil shipping lanes.
Only after those issues are settled would broader negotiations begin on Tehran’s nuclear program, including Iran’s demand for recognition of its right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear activities are peaceful.
Diplomatic Efforts Continue
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has recently travelled to Pakistan, Oman and Russia in an effort to build support for negotiations.
During a visit to Moscow, Araqchi met President Vladimir Putin, who reportedly offered diplomatic backing.
Planned peace talks in Islamabad were also dealt a blow after Trump cancelled a proposed visit by special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner.
With no clear breakthrough in sight, oil prices rose again in Asian trading on Tuesday as traders focused on continued disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Ship-tracking data indicated that maritime traffic through the chokepoint has dropped sharply since the conflict began, with several tankers reportedly turned back in recent days.
Before the war, more than 120 vessels passed through the strait daily. Analysts say that number has fallen dramatically, increasing pressure on global energy supplies.
Trump is also facing growing domestic pressure to end the war, particularly as economic concerns mount and public support weakens.
Iranian officials say Washington has failed to meet its military objectives, while the White House insists pressure will continue until U.S. demands are met.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan offered his support for U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call following a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the Turkish presidency said late on Sunday.
“Erdogan said he saw the incident as a heinous act against democracy and press freedom,” the presidency said in a statement on X, Reuters reported.
Earlier, Erdogan had condemned the incident in a separate statement on X, saying he was happy that Trump and first lady Melania Trump were unharmed.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner by Secret Service agents on Saturday night after a man armed with a shotgun tried to breach security, officials said.
The armed man fired at a Secret Service agent, an FBI official told Reuters. The agent was hit in an area covered by protective gear and not harmed, the official said.
All federal officials, including Trump, were safe. About an hour after Trump was rushed from the event, he posted on Truth Social that a “shooter had been apprehended.”
“Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job,” Trump added.
‘GET DOWN, GET DOWN!’
Shortly afterwards, he posted, “The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition.” He said he would be holding a White House press conference on Saturday night.
Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said the service was investigating a shooting near the main screening area at the entrance to the event.
After the sound of shots, dinner attendees immediately stopped talking and people started screaming “Get down, get down!” Many of the 2,600 attendees took cover while waiters fled to the front of the dining hall.
Security agents pushed cabinet officials to the ground, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Other security personnel in combat fatigues stormed the stage and evacuated Trump and his wife. Some security personnel took up position on the stage, pointing their rifles into the ballroom. Cabinet members were then evacuated from the venue one by one.
Trump and the first lady bent down behind the dais before being hustled out by Secret Service officers. Trump stayed backstage about one hour, a source told Reuters. “We are staying,” he was overheard saying, the source said.
The event eventually was canceled for the evening. Trump posted on social media that he hoped it could be rescheduled in 30 days.
Saturday was the first time Trump has attended the correspondents’ dinner as president.
He was the subject of two assassination attempts in 2024, after he left the White House in 2021 and while he was campaigning for reelection.
The most serious occurred while Trump was campaigning at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. Trump was shot and wounded in his upper ear by a 20-year-old gunman. The gunman was shot dead by security personnel.
Just over two months after the Butler shooting, Secret Service agents spotted a man wielding a gun and hiding in bushes at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was on the course. It was deemed an assassination attempt and the suspect was sentenced to life in prison in February.
The site of Saturday’s dinner, the Washington Hilton, was the scene of an attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan, who was shot and wounded by a would-be assassin outside the hotel in 1981.
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