Authorities in Australia have identified the suspects in Sunday’s horrific Hanukkah shooting in Bondi Beach, Sydney, as a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son.
Officials gave an update on Sunday evening, and although they did not name the suspects, they revealed that the father had been killed at the scene of the shooting and the son remained in the hospital with critical injuries.
“Based on his medical condition, it is likely that this person may face criminal charges,” Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon — of the New South Wales Police — said of the younger man.
Lanyon also warned the public against retaliation, saying, “This is a time for calm. Retribution or acts against any parts of any community will not be accepted.”
Authorities have labeled the attack — on a gathering of hundreds of Australian Jews who were gathered to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah — an act of terrorism and antisemitism. Criminal charges are expected to be filed against the recovering suspect. Local police do not believe that any other suspects were involved in the attack.
Commissioner Lanyon noted that the older of the two suspects was legally able to possess firearms — despite Australia’s strict firearm regulations — because he was a member of a gun club and had obtained a recreational hunting license. He had legal licenses for six firearms and six firearms were all that were recovered from his property and from the scene of the shooting.
Lawmakers in Australia have already begun to talk about tightening gun regulations even further in the wake of the shooting.
“It means introducing a bill to Parliament to — I mean, to be really blunt — make it more difficult to get these horrifying weapons that have no practical use in our community,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said. “If you’re not a farmer, if you’re not involved in agriculture, why do you need these massive weapons that put the public in danger and make life dangerous and difficult for New South Wales Police?”
Minns also vowed to make it clear to the citizens that the government and police would protect them, saying, “We need to send a clear message to the people of this state … that New South Wales police are there to protect them, to keep them safe, and they’ve got every right to celebrate their faith.”
The names of those who were murdered at the Hanukkah celebration have not yet been officially released, but Chabad — the group that organized the popular event — announced earlier in the day that Rabbi Eli Schlanger had been among those killed. Schlanger had recently penned a letter to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, warning him not to betray the Jewish people.
“To Anthony Albanese, I say this with urgency – stop fueling terrorism by legitimizing those who spread hate. Listen to the voices of those who understand it firsthand,” he wrote.
“As a rabbi in Sydney, I beg you not to betray the Jewish people and not God himself,” Schlanger wrote to Albanese. “Jews have been torn from their land again and again by leaders who are now remembered with contempt in the pages of history. You have an opportunity to stand on the side of justice.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also warned Albanese to rescind his support for Palestinian statehood, saying in part, “Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire. It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas’s refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.”
