By Philissa Cramer
People cross a street next to police vehicles after a shooting on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Dec. 14, 2025. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
(JTA) — This is a developing story.
At least 15 people were killed during a shooting attack on a Hanukkah event at a beach playground in Sydney on Sunday, where attendees were celebrating the first night of the Jewish holiday.
The event was being held by Chabad of Bondi and the dead included Rabbi Eli Schlanger, an emissary of the movement who has worked there for 18 years, according to Chabad sources.
Dozens of people were injured, some critically, in the attack, which took place at about 6:30 p.m. local time.
It was “an act of evil antisemitism, terrorism, that has struck the heart of our nation,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a video address.
A gunman was also killed and another arrested during the shooting adjacent to Bondi Beach, one of Australia’s most iconic sites that is popular with families and surfers. Police said they found an explosive device in a car belonging to the gunman who was killed.
An unarmed civilian tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen while coming under fire from another, according to footage from the scene.
The man has been identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed, the operator of a fruit stand in a Sydney suburb who happened to be in the area. He was shot twice but is expected to survive.
The incident immediately became one of the deadliest attacks on a Jewish target outside of Israel in decades. It comes as Australian Jews have experienced a surge of antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, including protests that police said included antisemitic rhetoric and arson attacks that police accused Iran of directing.
The event at Bondi Beach was advertised as also being sponsored by Chabad for Israelis, a synagogue and community designed for Israelis living in the area, and the Waverly Council, the local government office that manages events at the beach.
Video showed two men opening fire from a footbridge above the event, which police said had drawn more than 1,000 people. It was advertised as having live entertainment, food for purchase, and games for children, all culminating in a “grand menorah lighting.”
Chabad is known for its public menorahs, which the movement said were erected in roughly 15,000 locations around the world last year. While some of the public menorahs have experienced vandalism in the past, this is the first deadly attack on a public menorah lighting.
Schlanger had recently held an event to memorialize Chabad emissaries murdered elsewhere, including in a 2008 attack on Chabad of Mumbai in India, according to Chabad sources. He also shared two months ago on Facebook that he and his wife had welcomed a baby boy.