Australia marks Day of Reflection for Bondi Beach shooting victims

Australians lit candles at 6:47 p.m. Sunday to commemorate the moment the first shots rang out at Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration that left 15 people dead. Federal and New South Wales governments declared Sunday a national Day of Reflection, a week after the attack, Australia’s worst mass shooting since the 1996 Tasmanian massacre in which 35 people were killed. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a review of the nation’s federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies following the attack, which authorities said was inspired by the Islamic State group. Health department officials said 13 of those wounded remained in Sydney hospitals on Sunday, including Naveed Akram, 24, the man labeled the alleged gunman, who was shot by police. Akram’s father, Sajid Akram, 50, was killed at the scene.

Indigenous leaders held a traditional smoking ceremony on Sunday morning at Bondi Pavilion, where an impromptu memorial has grown over the past week as flowers and heartfelt messages accumulate. The memorial is to be cleared on Monday. Rabbi Levi Wolff said Australians understood the attack targeted not only Jewish people but Australian values, and that the country would stand together against hate.

Governor-General Sam Mostyn laid a flower at the memorial on Sunday morning as part of the public vigil, with hundreds of women and girls dressed in white taking part. Mostyn described the shootings as ghastly acts of terror and endorsed a call from rabbis for millions of mitzvahs—acts of kindness—in response to the tragedy, saying everyone in the country belongs.

Flags were flown at half-mast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and on government buildings, which will be lit in yellow on Sunday night in a show of solidarity with the Jewish community. Television and radio networks were asked to pause for a minute’s silence at 6:47 p.m. Rabbi Eli Feldman invited the wider Australian community to join Jews at Bondi to observe the last full day of Hanukkah, which ends at sundown on Monday, and to light the eighth candle, signaling that light can overcome darkness.

Albanese’s department will examine whether federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies had the correct powers, structures, processes and sharing arrangements in place to keep Australians safe. The review will report by the end of April 2026, Albanese said in a statement. Officials said Australia’s main domestic spy agency had investigated Naveed Akram’s associates in 2016 but did not conclude he posed a threat. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said victims’ families felt tragically let down by government failures to combat antisemitism in Australia since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023, adding that there was growing anger and a desire for change.