SYDNEY, Australia — Australians were set to light candles at 6:47 p.m. on Sunday (9:47 a.m. Israel time; 7:47 GMT) to collectively commemorate the moment the first shots rang out a week earlier at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in an attack on a Jewish Hanukkah event that left 15 dead.
The federal and New South Wales state governments have declared Sunday a national Day of Reflection, a week after Australia’s worst mass shooting since 35 died in Tasmania state in 1996. The attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting Jews. Authorities have ramped up patrols and policing across the country to prevent further antisemitic violence.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Sunday a review of the nation’s federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies following last week’s terror attack. Authorities believe the assailants were inspired by the Sunni Muslim terror group Islamic State, with flags of the group allegedly found in the car they took to Bondi.
Indigenous leaders held a traditional smoking ceremony on Sunday morning at the waterfront Bondi Pavilion, where an impromptu memorial has grown over the past week as flowers and heartfelt messages have accumulated. The memorial is to be cleared on Monday.
Federal and state authorities are in talks with Jewish community leaders about establishing a permanent memorial at Bondi Beach, as well as holding a national day of mourning in the new year.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
Rabbi Levi Wolff expected thousands would gather at Bondi later Sunday to honor the victims and show solidarity for the Jewish community.
“Australians appreciate that this is an attack that wasn’t just against the Jewish people — we’re an easy target — but this is an attack on the Australian values and they will come here and they will stand together with us shoulder-to-shoulder as they have over the last week to tell the people in this country that there is no tolerance for hate. Violence has no place in our beautiful country,” Wolff said at the memorial.
The seventh candle on a menorah is lit for the Jewish festival of Hanukkah as mourners gather next to floral tributes laid out in memory of the victims of a terror shooting targeting a Hanukkah event days earlier, at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, on December 20, 2025. (DAVID GRAY / AFP)
Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who represents Australia’s head of state King Charles III, accepted an invitation from the National Council of Jewish Women for women of all faiths to lay a flower at the memorial on Sunday morning. Hundreds of women and girls dressed in white joined her in making the gesture.
Mostyn described the shooting as “unspeakably, ghastly acts of terror.”
She endorsed a call from rabbis for millions of mitzvahs — good deeds commanded by Jewish law — which she interpreted as acts of kindness, in response to the tragedy.
“This is now a national project: mitzvahs, good deeds, care, kindness, compassion to each other, Jewish or otherwise. Everyone in this country belongs,” Mostyn told the gathering.
Mourners look at flowers laid next to the beach in memory of victims of a terror shooting targeting a Jewish event days earlier, at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, on December 20, 2025. (DAVID GRAY / AFP)
On December 14, two gunmen opened fire on the Hanukkah celebration on the first day of the eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
Health department authorities said 12 of those wounded at Bondi remained in Sydney hospitals on Sunday.
Also hospitalized is alleged terrorist Naveed Akram, 24, who was shot by police. He has been charged with 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to those wounded.
His father, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene.
Flags were flying at half-staff on Sunday on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and on government buildings, which were set to be lit in yellow on Sunday night in a show of solidarity with the Jewish community.
Australian and Aboriginal flags fly at half staff on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during a National Day of Reflection to honor the victims of a terrorist attack targeting a Jewish event a week earlier, at Bondi Beach, December 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A small seaplane buzzed over Bondi Beach, trailing a message of love for “our Jewish community.”
Television and radio networks have also been asked to pause for a minute’s silence at 6:47 p.m.
In a nationwide gesture of “light over darkness,” millions were expected to fill their windows with flickering candles.
“Sixty seconds carved out from the noise of daily life, dedicated to 15 Australians who should be with us today,” said Albanese, who will join commemorations at Bondi Beach. “It will be a moment of pause to reflect and affirm that hatred and violence will never define us as Australians.”
Rabbi Eli Feldman said the wider Australian community was invited to join Jews at Bondi to observe the eighth and final candle-lighting of Hanukkah.
“The Jewish community, together with all of our Australian friends, are all invited to come and light the eighth candle here and show that light will always overcome darkness,” Feldman said.
Floral tributes are laid for victims on a small bridge where gunmen had stood during a mass terror shooting targeting a Hanukkah event a week earlier, at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia on December 20, 2025. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
Albanese’s department will examine whether federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies had the correct powers, structures, processes and sharing arrangements in place to keep Australians safe.
The review will report by the end of April 2026, Albanese said in a statement.
“The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation,” he said. “Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond.”
Australia’s main domestic spy agency had investigated the younger Akram’s associates in 2019, but had not concluded he posed a threat, officials said last week.
Albanese, under pressure from critics who say his center-left government has not done enough to curb a surge in antisemitism over the past two years, has vowed to strengthen hate laws in the wake of the massacre.
On Saturday, the government of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, pledged to introduce a bill on Monday to ban the display of symbols and flags of terrorist organizations, including those of al-Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Boko Haram, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic State.
Around 1,000 surf lifesavers returned to duty at Bondi Beach on Saturday, restarting patrols after a halt sparked by the shooting on the first evening of the Jewish festival.
Surfers and swimmers head out to the ocean as a tribute following a terror shooting at a Jewish event days earlier, at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, December 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Markham)
A day earlier, Australia’s Jewish community gathered at Bondi Beach for prayers, while hundreds of swimmers and surfers formed a huge circle in the waters off the beach to honor victims.
The mass shooting has sparked national soul-searching about antisemitism, anger over the failure to shield Jewish Australians from harm, and promises to stiffen laws and penalties against hatred, extremists and gun ownership.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said he would open an independent Royal Commission investigation into the shooting.
Asked on Sunday if the attack could have been avoided, he said: “I don’t know. I mean, it’s something that I stay up at night wondering about and worrying about.”
The Australian government has announced a suite of national measures to crack down on gun ownership and hate speech, promising stricter federal laws and harsher penalties.
The state of New South Wales says it plans to ban “hateful” slogans including “Globalize the Intifada.”
Many Jewish Australians have criticized the authorities for not doing more to protect them before the attack.
“Do we feel safe? You know, the answer is ‘not really,’ to be honest,” rabbi Yossi Friedman told AFP at a floral memorial for the victims.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said victims’ families felt “tragically, unforgivably let down” by government failures to combat a growth in antisemitism in Australia since the war between Israel and Hamas began with the Palestinian terror group’s October 2023 massacre.
“I’ve spent time with the families of the victims. They’re just in a bewildered state. They’re still in shock. They don’t know what to do with themselves, let alone contemplate moving forward and healing,” Ryvchin said.
“There’s a lot of anger in the community now as well. I think we’re cycling through the various emotions, the various stages, and there’s a real feeling of having been let down and betrayed. And the community wants answers and we want change,” he added.
