The killing of at least 15 people by two gunmen at a Sydney, Australia, seaside Chanukah party has left Philadelphia-area Jewish leaders shocked and appalled – but not deterred from publicly celebrating the holiday, which began on Sunday night, Dec. 14.
Many local organizations went ahead with menorah lighting ceremonies on the first night of Chanukah, hours after the shootings, and saw crowds in the hundreds turn out despite fears for safety and bitter cold temperatures.
Chabad of Penn Wynne was among the organizations that held a peaceful public menorah lighting, sending a message that the light of the holiday will not be extinguished.
“Darkness does not win by force — it loses when light appears,” said Rabbi Moshe Brennan in a statement sent to Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. “The Menorah reminds us — and the world — that light is stronger than darkness, and it always will be.”
In the aftermath of the shooting, security at Chanukah events in the Philly area and elsewhere is a magnified concern and something that local organizations are placing an emphasis on.
“The security of the Jewish community is the top priority of Jewish Federations across North America. All Jewish Federations and their community security initiatives are on full alert for the Chanukah celebrations in their communities, working with all our law enforcement partners,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said in a statement after the shootings. “We mourn those killed in this horrific shooting, send our comforts to their families, and wish a speedy and full recovery to the injured.”
Rabbi Isser Brikman, the co-executive director of Chabad of Cherry Hill West, said that he was “mortified” when he heard the news of the massacre.
Brikman said that in the aftermath of the shooting, his Chabad called local law enforcement to provide additional security at their Chanukah events.
“All the events going forward will have tight security … and visible security, so everyone not only is safe, but also feels safe. They’ll be able to see the security and we’re taking it with the utmost precaution,” he told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
Horror in Australia
Australian authorities say that along with the 15 killed, more than 40 others were wounded when the two gunmen opened fire on the crowd at Bondi Beach in Sydney. The attack targeted hundreds gathered to mark the first night of Chanukah with a seaside menorah lighting and party sponsored by the Chabad of Bondi.
Witnesses say chaos broke out when the crowd heard the sounds of shots being fired and began fleeing.
“Hundreds of people were gathered. It’s a family event,” Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told a Sydney radio station. “They heard, like, dozens of popping sounds. And people just started running, running over barricades, grabbing their children. It was mayhem.”
Video footage from the scene showed the gunmen firing from a footbridge overlooking the beach. The shooters were neutralized after about 10 minutes.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation named the alleged shooters as Sajid Akram, 50, who was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, who was hospitalized in critical condition.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that Naveed Akram first came to the attention of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization in October 2019 and was under investigation for six months, but there was an assessment that he posed no ongoing threat.
However, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the younger Akram was closely connected to an Islamic State cell member now serving seven years in jail for planning an IS insurgency.
“This was a deliberate terrorist act targeting the Jewish community in Sydney as they celebrated the first night of Chanukah – an act that must be loudly and clearly called out as antisemitism,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said in a statement.
The Australian prime minister declared the attack a terrorist incident. “This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians, on the first day of Chanukah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith,” he said. He called the shootings “an act of evil antisemitism, terrorism, that has struck the heart of our nation.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Australian government was partly to blame for the deadly shootings. “Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia,” Netanyahu said Sunday during a ceremony in the southern Israeli town of Dimona.
Australia has historically been seen as a safe place for the country’s approximately 115,000 Jews. However, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said it recorded more than 1,600 antisemitic incidents nationwide in the year ending in September 2025, several times the annual average seen in the years before the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“We are now at a stage where anti-Jewish racism has left the fringes of society and become part of the mainstream, where it is normalized and allowed to fester and spread, gaining ground at universities, in arts and culture spaces, in the health sector, in the workplace and elsewhere,” the report said. “In such an environment, Jews have legitimate concerns for their physical safety and future.”