Naveed Akram. one of the alleged shooters
One of the gunmen who opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach has been named as Naveed Akram.
A driver’s license found at the scene lists his address as Bonnyrigg, in Sydney’s south-west, where police raided on Sunday evening.
The 24-year-old suspect, who was shot dead by the police, was a recently fired bricklayer.
The suburb of Bonnyrigg is home to a large migrant population, with significant Chinese and Vietnamese communities.
The second alleged attacker is still under arrest, while the authorities are continuing the search amid reports of a third possible culprit.
Social media posts from an Islamic center in Australia show Akram completed religious studies in 2022, raising questions about possible radicalization and extremist networks operating in the country. Adam Ismail, the head of the Al-Murad Islamic Institute, where Akram studied, declined to comment when contacted by The Telegraph.
The attack is being treated as a terrorist incident and is one of the deadliest acts of anti-Semitic violence in Australian history.
Videos from the scene show two men wearing black guns shooting towards the beach from a bridge on a nearby car park at around 6:40pm on Sunday. The Police maintained a strong presence at the scene, with teams of detectives going in and out under guard as the ambulances arrived.
Credit: Sky News
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon urged calm, saying that investigators were working on several lines of inquiry.
Israeli authorities said they were examining responsibility for the attack amid concerns it could have been orchestrated by a foreign state or militant organisations. The shooting took place against a backdrop of rising tensions between Australia and Iran, following a series of suspected Iranian-directed attacks on Jewish targets in the country.
Australian officials have not publicly confirmed any foreign involvement. However, Israeli officials cited Iran as a primary suspect if a state actor was involved, while also examining possible links to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to Israeli media reports.
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A senior Israeli security official told Israel Hayom that there has been “increased activity by Iran in recent months to orchestrate attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” adding that investigators believe the “direction and infrastructure” of the Bondi Beach attack originated in Tehran.
An Israeli intelligence source quoted by the newspaper said activity by Iran and its allies had “increased markedly” in recent months. Another Israeli official said that Australia was among the countries affected, noting that the Australian government had previously taken action against the Iranian embassy following specific intelligence warnings.
“There is no doubt that the direction and infrastructure for the attack originated in Tehran,” the official said.
The two suspects were seen on a bridge overlooking Bondi Beach
Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, condemned the shooting as a “cruel attack on the Jews”.
“In these very moments, our brothers and sisters in Sydney have been attacked by vile terrorists,” he said. “We are completely shocked and saddened.”
Meanwhile, some supporters of the Iranian regime celebrated the attack on social media. One post hailed Akram as “the most diligent member of the 2000s generation to date”.
Iranian state media reported the shooting using derogatory language, with the Tasnim news agency describing the victims in terms similar to those used during recent hostilities between Israel and Iran.
Police search suspect’s home in Bonnyrigg, Sydney – JEREMY PIPER/EPA/Shutterstock
Australia formally listed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization last month. Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, expelled Iran’s ambassador in August and suspended Australia’s embassy operations in Tehran, accusing the Islamic Republic of recruiting criminals to carry out anti-Semitic attacks on Australian soil.
Australia’s spy chief, Mike Burgess, said in August that Iran had “lit the matches and fanned the flames” of anti-Semitism in Australia.
It said Tehran had directed at least two arson attacks in the past year, including incidents targeting a Melbourne synagogue and a Sydney Jewish restaurant.
“Iran and its proxies are directing, through a series of blackouts, people in Australia to commit these crimes,” Mr Burgess said.
Paramedics and emergency services treat the injured amid chaos following a mass shooting in Bondi Beach
Lewis’s Continental Kitchen, a kosher cafe in Bondi, was the target of an arson attack in October last year. An Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, south-east of Melbourne, was also attacked in December. No injuries were reported.
Mr Albanese said it was likely the Iranian government had directed more attacks on Jewish targets.
“These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” he said. “They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”
Credit: Instagram/mian.ores – X
The expulsion of ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi marked the most severe diplomatic crisis between Australia and Iran since the two countries established relations in 1968. Australia also ordered embassy staff to leave Iran and advised citizens to leave if possible.
An Israeli citizen is among those killed in the Bondi Beach attack, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Israel has confirmed.
Gideon Sa’ar, the Israeli foreign minister, urged Canberra to act against what he described as a sharp rise in antisemitism during a phone call with his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong.
“Since October 7 there has been a sharp rise in anti-Semitism in Australia,” he said, calling on the government to take stronger action against violent incitement.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday denounced a “violent attack” in Sydney.
“We condemn the violent attack in Sydney, Australia. The terror and the killing of human beings, wherever it is committed, is rejected and condemned,” said Esmaeil Baqaei, the spokesman of the foreign ministry, on X.
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