The attack in Sydney on Hanukkah. New information, comment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
At least 11 people and one of the attackers died in a terrorist attack on Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday. The attack occurred when Australian Jews gathered on the beach began lighting a Hanukkah candle. 29 people were transported to hospitals. One of the perpetrators died, the other was arrested.
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What information did the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs provide about Poles in Sydney?
How many people died in the Bondi Beach attack?
Who is among those killed in the shooting?
What action are Sydney police taking after the attack?
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: there is no information about injured Poles
When asked by PAP whether Poles were harmed in the attack on Bondi Beach, MFA spokesman Maciej Wewiór replied: — We have no information that our citizens have suffered.
In turn, he wrote on the X website: “Hate breeds violence and terror. The anti-Semitic attack that took place in Australia is a dramatic example of this. We strongly condemn this act and express our full solidarity with the victims. We always oppose violence against the innocent, regardless of its motivation.”
Police action in Sydney
New South Wales State Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told a news conference that the attackers used long weapons. He added that the police found a vehicle that probably contains several improvised explosive devices. There is also a similar device under the footbridge from which the attackers fired. Pyrotechnic units have already arrived at the scene of the incident.
Commissioner Lanyon said he had given officers special powers to ensure that if a third offender emerged, police could effectively stop him.
The attack was considered terrorist attack, therefore, the investigation is to be conducted by the anti-terrorist unit, Reuters reported.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns confirmed that the attack was a deliberate attack on the Jewish community.
The police are appealing for witnesses of the incident
Rabbi Eli Schlanger was among the dead, and two policemen were among the wounded. The police appealed to all people in the areawho have recordings from mobile phones or car cameras to provide these materials. The police are looking for improvised explosive devices in the area, the website of the Australian broadcaster ABC reported.
Alex Ryvchin from the Australian Jewish community organization reported in an interview for Sky News that the shooting occurred during a beach celebration on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which started at sunset. “If we were deliberately attacked like this, it's something none of us could have imagined. “It's a terrible thing,” he said, adding that his media adviser was injured in the attack.
Israel responds. “Signals were ignored”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he contacted the Australian government before Sunday's attack numerous warning signals were received. Saar suggested that they had been disregarded.
— This is the result of anti-Semitic attacks on the streets of Australia over the last two years, along with anti-Semitic and inflammatory slogans of the “globalization of the intifada”. Today these (calls) have come true, said the head of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, quoted by Reuters. President of Israel Yitzhak Hertzog called on the Australian government to fight the “huge wave of anti-Semitism”which he said was “plaguing Australian society”.
The head of one of the non-governmental associations of Australian Jews said there was an attack “a completely predictable tragedy.”
A report recently published by the Executive Council of Australian Jews (ECAJ) stated that over the 12 months from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, 1,654 incidents occurred in the country — about five times the annual average recorded in the decade preceding the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which started the war in the Gaza Strip, noted the Times of Israel website.
