(New York, N.Y.)—CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace stated:

“We condemn the horrific terrorist attack on Australian Jews during a Hanukkah lighting at Bondi Beach, Sydney. This targeted attack violated the right of Jews to live and worship safely in Australia. Jews were attacked because they are Jews. Such hatred must be named and confronted without equivocation.

“Jewish Australian leaders have warned about escalating antisemitism for years and have said this act of terrorism was entirely foreseeable. Repeated alerts about credible threats were not matched with sufficient government action, leaving the community exposed and fearful about its future in Australia. When governments fail to heed the warning of dangers to their people based on antisemitism it marks the sure decline of a great nation such as Australia.

“Those warnings were grounded in real events, such as a surge in antisemitic attacks since October 7, 2023, including a December 2024 arson attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel synagogue—following which the Australian Jewish community said they had felt abandoned by the government. According to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, Australian authorities recorded 1,654 antisemitic incidents in the country, about five times the annual average recorded in the decade prior to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

“This attack demands moral clarity and immediate action to protect Jewish Australians and confront antisemitism—and, specifically, the extreme demonization of Israel. Australia’s lawmakers must do better—immediately. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the wider Jewish community. “