A senior New York rabbi has condemned Australia’s “inaction” after a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach was disrupted by a mass shooting that injured 40 people and killed at least 15, including two prominent rabbis.
Rabbi Schmaya Krinsky of the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York City said the attack, carried out by a father and son, reflected a growing climate of anti-Semitism in Australia that authorities had failed to confront.
“Jewish people around the world are uncomfortable right now, but they are defiant,” he said. “Any incremental escalation of anti-Semitic language that is tolerated has an immediate and now deadly consequence and must no longer be allowed to go unchecked.”
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Police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach after a terrorist attack during a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, on December 14, 2025. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)
“Australian authorities must act with enthusiasm and root out both the actions and rhetoric that normalize anti-Semitism,” Krinsky added.
The tragic mass shooting on December 14 occurred when two gunmen opened fire at a large ‘Chanukah by the Sea’ event near Campbell Parade on Bondi Beach.
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A member of the Jewish community reacts as he walks with police to the scene of a shooting on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
The eldest attacker was killed on the spot and his son was taken into custody in critical condition.
Krinsky, who was also in Melbourne in July when there was an arson at the East Melbourne Synagogue, said he had already seen the “unease” growing in Australia firsthand.
“I witnessed first-hand the discomfort and anxiety felt by many within the Australian Jewish community amid the rise in anti-Semitic incitement, and their sense that the authorities’ response was inadequate,” he said.
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Rabbi Dovid Gutnick walks past the exterior damage to the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne on Saturday, July 5, 2025, after an arsonist set the door on fire. (James Ross/AAP image via AP)
“At that point there was a sense that the Jewish community in Australia was becoming increasingly uncomfortable about the lack of a strong enough response to these acts.”
Schlanger, 41, one of the first deceased victims to be identified, was an assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and organizer of the beach event.
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Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, December 14, 2025. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)
“While each Chabad center operates independently, they function under our global umbrella organization,” Krinsky clarified. “There are no words to express the fear and sadness caused by this heartbreaking tragedy.”
“Rabbi Schlanger was one of the victims of this barbarism,” he added. “He had deep ties to the United States and studied here. He has family here and although the attack happened far away, we feel closer than ever to him this Hanukkah.”
“He was younger than me, and we attended the same educational institutions, albeit at different times,” Krinsky noted. “He dedicated his life to living in communities around the world, far from home, inspired by the Rebbe’s teachings and vision.
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Armed police work at the scene following a shooting incident at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025. Australian police said two people were in custody following reports of multiple gunshots on December 14 at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach, and urged the public to take shelter. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
Born in Britain, Schlanger married Chaya, the daughter of prominent Australian Rabbi Yehoram Ulman.
“After their marriage some 18 years ago, they moved to Sydney to help grow the community and bring the beauty and spirit of Jewish tradition to life for many in the Sydney Jewish community,” Krinsky explained. “He would have found a place where he could move to do the work he wanted to dedicate his life to.”
As the world responded, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack as an “act of pure evil”, according to The Associated press.
“We are crushed for the families who celebrated the Festival of Lights at Bondi Beach,” Krinsky said.
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A health worker moves a stretcher after a shooting incident at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025. Australian police said two people were in custody after reports of multiple gunshots on December 14 at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach, and urged the public to take shelter. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)
“But every Chabad community worldwide is already doing what we do best: spreading more light, strengthening Jewish pride and observance, and increasing acts of goodness and kindness.”
“The perpetrator may have wanted to dim the Hanukkah lights in Sydney, but they will burn even brighter across Australia and around the world.”
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An explanation released by the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in New York said: “Let’s be clear: This was an insidious act of terror – an attack on community, on goodness, and on light itself. It reflects a climate in which Jew-hatred has been allowed to grow and become violent. That reality must be confronted.”
“We will honor the lives taken in increasing Jewish practice, pride and visibility. May their light rise from this grief, and their memory be a blessing to us all,” the statement said.
