Royal Commission Examines Bondi Beach Terror Attack and Rising Anti‑Semitism Threat

Eleven people were shot, ten of them fatally, within the first 29 seconds of the Bondi Beach terror attack on August 2024. The alleged gunmen were 24‑year‑old Naveed Akram and his 50‑year‑old father Sajid Akram; the father was killed eight minutes into the assault while the son was apprehended.

During the Royal Commission into Anti‑Semitism and Social Cohesion, senior NSW Police officers and ASIO Director‑General Mike Burgess testified that no specific intelligence warned of the attack. Burgess described the incident as a “surprise attack” and said the agency had “sufficient” funding, though it was “stretched”. He also noted that the national terrorism threat level had been raised to “probable” in August 2024, indicating “a greater than 50 per cent chance that in the next 12 months someone will advocate or undertake an act of terror in this country”.

The commission heard that anti‑Semitic incidents in Sydney had escalated after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, with increased hate symbols and threats toward Jewish Australians, culminating in the Bondi Beach shooting. The hearing was closed to the public for two weeks of private questioning before reopening.