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A senior New York rabbi has condemned Australia’s “inaction” after a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach was shattered by a mass shooting that wounded 40 and killed at least 15 people, including two prominent rabbis.
Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky of the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York City, said the attack, carried out by a father and son, reflected a growing climate of antisemitism in Australia that authorities had failed to confront.
“As well as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, we have now learned that Chabad Rabbi Yaakov Levitan has succumbed to his wounds. May his memory also be a blessing,” Krinsky told Fox News Digital.
“Jewish people around the world right now are uneasy, but they are defiant,” he said. “Every incremental escalation of antisemitic language that is tolerated has a direct, and now, deadly, consequence, and must no longer go unchecked.”
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“Australian authorities need to act with alacrity and stamp out both the acts and the rhetoric that normalize antisemitism,” Krinsky added.
The tragic mass shooting Dec. 14 came when two gunmen opened fire on a large “Chanukah by the Sea” event near Campbell Parade at Bondi Beach.
The attack, reportedly being investigated as a terrorist incident by police, included improvised explosive devices found in one suspect’s vehicle, as previously reported by Fox News Digital.
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The elder assailant was killed at the scene and his son was taken into custody in critical condition.
Krinsky, who was also in Melbourne in July when a synagogue arson attack took place at the East Melbourne Synagogue, said he had already seen the “unease” in Australia growing firsthand.
“I witnessed firsthand the unease and concern felt by many within the Australian Jewish community amid the rise in antisemitic incitement, and their sense that the response from the authorities was inadequate, he said.
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“At that point, there was a feeling that the Jewish community in Australia has been increasingly uneasy with what they feel is the lack of a strong enough response to these acts.”
Schlanger, 41, who was one of the first deceased victims to be identified, was assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the beach event.
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“While each Chabad center operates independently, they function under our global umbrella organization,” Krinsky clarified. “There are no words to underscore the anguish and heartbreak caused by this gut-wrenching tragedy.”
“Rabbi Schlanger was among the victims of this barbarism,” he added. “He had deep ties to the United States and studied here, he has family here and although the attack took place far away, this Hanukkah we feel him closer than ever.”
“He was younger than I am, and we attended the same institutions, though at different times,” Krinsky noted. “He dedicated his life to living in communities around the world, far away from home, inspired by the Rebbe’s teachings and vision.
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Schlanger, born in the U.K., married Chaya, the daughter of prominent Australian Rabbi Yehoram Ulman.
“Following their marriage, some 18 years ago, they moved to Sydney to help grow the community and bring the beauty and spirit of the Jewish tradition to life for many in the Sydney Jewish community,” Krinsky explained. “He would have found some place to move to go about the work that he had he wanted to dedicate his life to.”
As the world responded, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack as an “act of pure evil,” according to The Associated Press.
“We are crushed for the families who were celebrating the Festival of Light on Bondi Beach,” Krinsky said.
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“But every Chabad community worldwide is already doing what we do best: spreading more light, strengthening Jewish pride and observance, and increasing acts of goodness and kindness.”
“The perpetrator may have wanted to dim the Hanukkah lights in Sydney – but they will burn even brighter across Australia and around the globe.”
A statement released by Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters in New York said, “Let us be clear: this was a treacherous act of terror – an attack on the community, on goodness, and on light itself. It reflects a climate in which Jew hatred has been allowed to grow and to turn violent. That reality must be confronted.”
“We will honor the lives taken by enhancing Jewish practice, pride and visibility. May their light rise from this sorrow, and their memory be a blessing to us all,” the statement read.
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