Bondi Beach terror attack probed as ASIO and NSW Police face scrutiny at anti-Semitism Royal Commission

Eleven people were shot, 10 of them fatally, in the first 29 seconds of Australia’s deadliest terror attack at world-famous Bondi Beach.

These are the very real numbers that counter terrorism agencies, ASIO, the NSW Police Force and Jewish security groups must face to answer how a Hanukkah event went so catastrophically wrong.

Potential failings in the lead up to and on the day of the attack were at the forefront of hearing block 2 of the Royal Commission into Anti Semitism and Social Cohesion, with senior NSW Police officers, and the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) taking the stand before the hearing was closed to the public for a further two weeks of questioning to take place in private.

Counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC told the hearing on Monday that within 29 seconds of alleged gunmen Naveed Akram, 24 and his father Sajid Akram, 50, beginning their attack, 11 people were shot, 10 of them fatally.

Nearly eight minutes into the attack, Sajid Akram was shot and killed, while his son was shot and apprehended.

Mr Lancaster said the attack at Bondi Beach was a “surprise attack” and that no intelligence was received beforehand to suggest an imminent threat.

However, while no specific intelligence was pointed to during the hearing, intelligence on the changing landscape, community unrest and a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the lead up to the shooting was laid bare.

Terror threat level ‘probable’

Australia’s national terrorism threat level had been upgraded and downgraded several times in the years prior to the attack, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess told the hearing.

The threat level had remained at “possible” since 2014 and was raised to “probable” right before the Lindt siege terrorist attack in Sydney that same year due to ASIO intelligence about increasing numbers of Australians travelling to the Middle East to fight with and support extremist groups.

It was reassessed and downgraded to “possible” in November 2022, but just two years later, in August 2024, it was again raised to “probable”.

The probable threat, according to Mr Burgess, meant there’s “a greater than 50 per cent chance that in the next 12 months someone will advocate or undertake an act of terror in this country”.

However, despite all these changes, the ASIO boss said he believed the agency had “sufficient” funding and resources to address threats concerning Australia at the time of the Bondi Beach terror attack.

“Of course, we are stretched, and I do have a means by which I can ask for additional resources if we need to,” he told the commission.

‘Anti-Semitism could escalate to actual terrorist acts’

The landscape in Australia again changed with the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel which left many Australians with “strong emotions”, with lasting impacts on the Jewish community.

“We saw people celebrating the Hamas terrorist attack … and obviously since that time, we recognise it’s an emotive issue,” Mr Burgess said.

“We saw threatening, intimidating behaviour through the end of 2023 against Jewish Australians all the way through 2024, until when it pivoted to direct targeting of people, businesses and places of worship.”

This then led to an escalating spate of anti-Semitism attacks in the lead up to the Bondi Beach attack, as well as an increasingly open display of prohibited hate symbols, and of terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, the commission was told.

One such event was in Dural in 2025, when a caravan filled with explosives and anti-Semitic material, including a threatening note referring to a synagogue in Sydney, was discovered.

It was later revealed to be part of a “fabricated terrorism plot”, however, events such as these had a “very concerning impact on the Jewish communities’ feeling of safety”, AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt told the commission.

He said there was “no doubt” Australia had seen an “escalation” in anti-Semitism, with the AFP having received some 166 reports of alleged crimes since Operation Avalite was launched in December 2024 following the arson attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue.

“It’s all part of potentially religiously motivated violent extremism, ideologically motivated violent extremism, and also politically motivated violent extremism because there’s crossover with all those and can be all three potentially,” he said.

“So there was absolutely a concern, that, the anti-Semitism could escalate to actual terrorist acts.”

In October 2025, the day after a terrorist attack at a synagogue in Manchester in which two people were killed by an assailant, ASIO prepared a report which highlighted the “enduring threat” to Jewish citizens, both in the UK and in Australia.

The report mentioned the timing of the attack was “unlikely to be a coincidence”, with Jewish holy days and significant dates such as Hannukah an “attractive target for extremists”.

The report was a “specific warning” from ASIO to NSW Police, among others, of the enduring threat to Jewish people, the commission was told.

Police response probed

The NSW Police force’s response both leading up to, during and after the attack, also came into focus during this week’s hearing.

A senior police officer, who cannot be named, was questioned about reported requests for officers to be stationed at the Hanukkah event, for its entirety – also referred to as a “static police presence”.

“I think static in its definition is standing still and that’s not what NSW Police need to be doing,” the officer said.

“We need to be moving around talking to people, surveying … trying to intervene early to prevent crime, and community reassurance is very important.”

The officer said she believes police standing still are “not monitoring their environment” because they only have a “very narrow focus”.

The Chanukah by the Sea event was classed by NSW Police as a tier 1 community event – the lowest security risk under their system which ranks the risks of community and religious events.

Tier 3, or the highest threat, requires direct management by counter-terrorism officers.

The officer was asked at the hearing if given the climate, and the event being held at a public place such as Bondi Beach “significantly understated the risk associated with the event occurring”.

“The event was planned with the information available to us at the time, and we allocated resources that I believed at the time were appropriate,” the officer said.

“But in hindsight, knowing what I now know, absolutely events of that this nature should be dealt with similar to Jewish High Holy Days,” they said.

In fact, for the Chanukah by the Sea event in 2023, following the October 7 Hamas attacks, a large NSW Police presence was in attendance as long as Operation Shelter, in order to addresses “significant community fear”, the commission was told.

During Deputy Commissioner David Hudson’s evidence he said officers responding to the attack were placed at a “significant risk” with gunfight armed with 9mm glocks against long arms.

He said NSW Police and the Police Union had requested greater access to long arms in the lead-up to the attack.

NSW police last year carried long-armed weapons at New Year’s celebrations for the first time in an attempt to strengthen public safety following the terrorist attack.

‘Undiluted level of hatred and bigotry’

And perhaps further highlighting the depths of anti-Semitism in Australia, it was also revealed during the week that witnesses that had given evidence had been subjected to horrific online hate attacks.

“We have received reports from a number of witnesses concerning a dramatic increase in online hate messages after they have given evidence,” Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell said.

“I should indicate that in one instance the matter has been referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation,” she said.

“The commission is keeping a close eye on these instances and recording these offensive social media posts.

“Quite what this undiluted level of hatred and bigotry directed towards members of the Jewish community is thought to benefit by those who post these remarks is lost on me,” Ms Bell said.

Speaking outside hearing on Monday, Dor Foundation chief executive Tahli Blicblau said the posts were “absolutely horrific” and “cut deep” for the witnesses who were targeted.

“The abuse is egregious, it is harsh, it calls for violence (and) it dehumanises people,” Ms Blicblau said.

“We wouldn’t accept it in a workplace, we wouldn’t accept it in a playground, so why would we accept it in an online space where it can be amplified to … millions of people?

“It takes the debate far beyond what we would expect to see in terms of acceptable public discourse.”

Examples included references to Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism Jillian Segal as a “cockroach”, as well as other comments to “kill all Jews”.

In one post, a Jewish child who gave evidence in the hearing was targeted.

Other comments are too graphic for publication.

And while the Jewish community in Australia say they are hurting and feeling isolated, they may have to wait longer for more answers, as none of the questioning in the next two weeks of the commission will be made public.

Instead, questioning will continue behind closed doors, with around 80 per cent of hearing block 2 being conducted in closed court.

NewsWire has reached out to various organisations who have been providing commentary on the royal commission for comment.

This includes the Executive Council of Australian Jewery, who declined to comment on the closed hearing at this time, however, added the online abuse aimed at witnesses was “awful”.

Public hearings for the commission began after commissioner Bell’s interim report was published with 14 recommendations, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowing to accept all that related to the commonwealth.

The recommendations include calls to heighten security during Jewish events and refine counter-terror co-operation between federal and state agencies.

The Prime Minister announced the royal commission on January 8, nearly four weeks after the terror attack, amid mounting public and political pressure.

The commission’s final report is due to be handed down in December, a year on from the Bondi attack.

The next hearing block of the commission, and what it will entail, is yet to be announced.