Bondi Beach Terror Attack Presents Two Sides of the Global Muslim Community
By New Age Islam Staff Writer
15 December 2025
Main Points
1. Pakistani origin fanatics killed 16 people on Sydney beach.
2. Syrian origin Ahmad overpowered terrorists.
3. Australia has witnessed a fivefold rise in antisemitism in two years.
4. The shooter was jobless.
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Sunday 14 December shooting at the Jewish festival Hanukkah gathering at Sydney's iconic Bondi beach claimed the lives of 16 Jews and left 40 others injured. The father-son duo, 50-year-old Sajid Akram and 24-year-old Naveed Akram were the attackers. While Sajid was killed by the police, Naveed was overpowered and arrested with injuries and was under treatment in a hospital.
According to reports, Sajid was originally from Pakistan and had come to Australia in 1998 on a student visa and settled there. He married an Australian woman Verena. He had two sons and one daughter. Sajid was fond of hunting and had six licensed semi-automatic rifles. His son had passed examination in Quran studies from Sydney's Al Murad Institute and worked as a bricklayer but had lost his job after his employer became bankrupt. He had first been noticed by the investigating agencies in 2019 after the arrest of Al Matari, the head of the ISIS in Australia who was convicted in 2021. The intelligence agencies investigated his associations and contacts for six months but gave him clean chit. His father had got license for fire arms in 2015 and the neighbours and the police did not find them a threat. But Sunday's shooting proved them wrong.
Sunday's shooting is said to be the culmination of anti-Semitic sentiments running high since Hamas-Israel war began on October 7, 2023. Anti-Zionism and anti-Israel protests were held across Australia during Israel's bombardment of Gaza and forced starvation of Gazans. This also caused a rise in anti-Semitism in the country as it saw a fivefold rise in anti-Semitism in Australia. According to reports, a total of 3,700 incidents of antisemitism were recorded during two years of Hamas-Israel war. Attacks on synagogues, residential complexes, bakeries and Jewish properties were reported more regularly during the last one year. Jewish buildings were set on fire or defaced and painted with anti-Semitic graffiti or threats. Cars were damaged and buildings were vandalised. But the perpetrators always managed to evade the police.
For example, Curli Lewis Brewing Company was set on fire by unknown miscreants on October 17, 2024. Interestingly, Guy Finnegan and Craig Bantoft were arrested and later pleaded guilty to the charges of arson. Again on October 20, 2024, Lewis Continental Kitchen was attacked and a biker gang led by Sayed Moosawi was arrested but denied the charges. On November 21, 2024, miscreants rampaged a Jewish community and vandalised cars and buildings. On December 6, 2024, a synagogue in Melbourne was set on fire. On December 11, another Jewish community was attacked and cars and buildings were vandalised. On the same day, Newtown Synagogue in Sydney was vandalised. After a series of attacks on the Jewish community in Australia, a special task force named Special Operation Avelati was formed but this task force also could not control the wave of antisemitism in Australia and Sunday's mass shooting could not be averted.
The steep rise in antisemitism in Australia had caused heightened concern among the global Jewish community. Representatives of Jews had met in Sydney only earlier in December to discuss the rising threats to the community and ways to counter it.
The two assailants, Sajid and Naveed reportedly fired 97 bullets in 6 minutes before Ahmad al Ahmad, 43, a bystander lunged towards Sajid Akram and overpowered him and snatched his ruffle. Sajid fell on the ground but Ahmad did not fire at him. Naveed, who saw this, fired at Ahmad and he got bullet wounds in his shoulder and hand. Sajid was later killed in the police firing and Naveed was arrested in an injured condition. There has not been any statement by the police on the motive of the shooting or their links with any terrorist organisation as yet but the premiere of New South Wales has declared it a terrorist attack.
Ahmad al Ahmad has now become a global hero whose daredevilry not only saved dozens of others from falling victims to the shooting but also proved that terrorism cannot be linked to any religion or community. Ahmad originally belongs to Al Nayrab village in the Idlib governorate of Syria. He came to Australia in 2006 and works as a fruit shop owner. He put his life at risk to save the people at the beach, ignoring the religion of the attackers or of the victims.
The UN, the Amnesty International and world leaders including India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the terrorist attack. Amnesty International has condemned the attack but at the same time warned the Australian government against stereotyping a whole community or adopting a policy of collective punishment and using the incident to form policies on immigration. It said:
"We unequivocally condemn this anti-Semitic mass shooting which has taken the lives of 15 people and caused immense harm and trauma to many others. Acts of terrorism, racism and violence are an affront to our shared humanity. We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and mourn alongside them. We condemn antisemitism and all forms of racist hatred."
Amnesty International further stated:
"Amnesty International Australia urges politicians, the public and community leaders to reject attempts to place blame on entire communities or to use the tragedy to fuel further racism or division. We caution against knee-jerk responses that scapegoat communities, undermine the right to protest or seek to justify discriminatory measures such as calls to restrict or target immigration on the basis of religion, race or nationality."
As more details about the people and the motive behind the shooting are awaited, it is clear that lone wolves lurking in every society use political and social developments in the world to justify their acts of terror but Islam has clear directives on the issue of disputes. Quran says that a Muslim should not abandon the path of justice in the enmity of a group or community. The Quran also says that killing one innocent person is like killing the entire humanity and saving one innocent person is like saving the entire humanity. While Sajid and Naveed killed the humanity, Ahmad saved the humanity. While Sajid and Naveed were radicalised by the theology of murder and violence spread by the militant organisations and extremist clerics, Ahmad represented the true teachings of Islam.
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