Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was greeted with boos on Sunday as he attended a vigil honoring the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting.
An estimated 10,000 mourners, including Albanian and several Australian politicians and members of the Jewish community, gathered on Bondi Beach to remember the victims. David Ossip, chairman of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, made a comment about the presence of Albanians in the crowd to a chorus of boos.
“This must be the nadir of anti-Semitism in our country,” Ossip said. “This must be the moment when the light begins to eclipse the darkness.”
Meanwhile, the crowd cheered at the mention of opposition leader Sussan Ley. Ley has said that a coalition government under her leadership would reverse a decision by the Albanian government to recognize a Palestinian state.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, center, and his wife Jodie Haydon, second from left, arrive for a memorial service for the victims of the Bondi Beach mass shooting on December 21, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Izhar Khan/Getty Images)
The tense response comes after Jewish leaders and Israeli officials criticized the Albanian government for ignoring warning signs of rising anti-Semitism in Australia in the months before the Bondi Beach attack.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted a letter he sent to Albanians earlier this year, when the latter’s government announced it would recognize a Palestinian state. He argued that this move “adds fuel to the anti-Semitic fire.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Albania’s handling of anti-Semitism. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of anti-Semitism in Australia. You did nothing to curb the cancer cells growing in your country. You took no action. You allowed the disease to spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said on the day of the attack.
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The December 14 attack killed 15 people and hospitalized dozens of others. The gunmen were a father-son duo, and the father was killed in the attack. The son, 24-year-old Naveed Akram, woke from a coma after recovering from serious injuries and is charged with murder and terrorism.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
