Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and the country's Federal Police commissioner confirmed that the Bondi Beach gunmen who targeted a Hanukkah celebration were motivated by ISIS.
Albanese said the mass shooting was "motivated by Islamic State ideology," while Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett called it a "terrorist attack inspired by the Islamic State."
The attack, committed by father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram, left 15 people dead, including a 10-year-old girl and a Holocaust survivor.
Albanese said authorities found two ISIS flags in the attackers' car, as well as homemade explosive devices. One flag was displayed on the car's hood. Both terrorists traveled to an area of the southern Philippines, known as "a hotbed for Islamic militants," for nearly the whole month of November to receive "military-style training," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Australian authorities in 2019 investigated Naveed Akram for his ties to ISIS but determined he wasn't a threat. A source told the BBC that Akram was "closely connected" to Isaac el Matari, the self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic State in Australia, who was sentenced in 2021 for planning a terrorist attack. Sajid Akram nevertheless overcame Australia's tough gun laws to obtain authorization to purchase six firearms. The Akrams used those weapons in the terrorist attack.
Albanese has faced criticism for his initial statements on the Hanukkah terrorist attacks, in which he failed to mention Jews, Hanukkah, or anti-Semitism. He eventually called the shooting "a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah."
The prime minister was one of several world leaders who recognized a Palestinian state in September, drawing criticism from President Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both leaders warned at the time that the recognition would reward Hamas and its allies for its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
