Australia records nearly 15 antisemitic incidents since Gaza war began
Shafaq News – Canberra (Updated at 00:19)
Australia has recorded at least 14 antisemitic incidents since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 8, 2023, a rise that peaked on Sunday with an attack on a Jewish gathering at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
The Bondi attack—which, according to New South Wales police, killed 16 people, injured 40 others, and triggered a nationwide terrorism investigation—followed a steady escalation in targeting Jewish communities. Synagogues, schools, businesses, and private property were repeatedly hit. In May 2024, Australia’s largest Jewish school in Melbourne was defaced with graffiti. Later that year, a bakery in Sydney was threatened after a warning was spray-painted on its exterior.
***IMPORTANT INFORMATION***Police can confirm 16 people have died and 40 people remain in hospital following yesterday's shooting at Bondi.More information will be made available soon.
— NSW Police Force (@nswpolice) December 14, 2025
The pattern hardened in early 2025. In mid-January, synagogues in southern and western Sydney were vandalized with antisemitic slogans, and one was targeted in an attempted arson attack. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns described the incidents as a serious turning point. Within days, vehicles were set ablaze and the home of a Jewish community leader in eastern Sydney was damaged. A nearby childcare center was later vandalized and burned. Police then uncovered a trailer packed with explosives in northwest Sydney, later identified as a criminal diversion plot designed to resemble an attack on a synagogue.
Authorities in February widened their response beyond physical attacks. On February 12, police opened a criminal investigation after a nurse and a midwife at a Sydney hospital were suspended over a TikTok video in which they allegedly threatened Jewish patients and refused them treatment.
Arson attacks followed in Bondi, where the entrance of the Curly Lewis brewery was set alight, followed by a fire at the nearby Jewish-owned Louis Continental Kitchen. In March 2025, police charged a former motorcycle gang member, alleging he coordinated the attacks to divert law enforcement resources.
The violence continued into mid-2025. On July 4, an arson attack forced 20 people to flee a synagogue dinner in eastern Melbourne. Police arrested a suspect that night while also responding to unrest at an Israeli restaurant elsewhere in the city.
Diplomatic Fallout with Iran
The domestic security crisis soon spilled into foreign policy. On August 26, 2025, Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador, accusing Tehran of directing two antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. The move marked Australia’s most significant diplomatic expulsion since World War II.
Prime Minister Albanese said intelligence agencies believed further plots may have been planned. Canberra responded by suspending operations at its embassy in Tehran, relocating diplomatic staff to a third country, and designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, aligning with the United States and Canada.
Australia later joined 14 Western countries, including the US, the UK, and France, in condemning Iran for what they described as an expansion of covert operations abroad involving threats, abductions, and targeted violence.
Iran rejected the accusations, with the Foreign Ministry stating that antisemitism “has no place in Iranian culture.”
