Officials around world tighten security for holiday events in wake of massacre on Australian beach

A day after at least 15 people celebrating Hanukkah were gunned down at a popular beach in Australia in what authorities said was an antisemitic terrorist attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday vowed to further tighten the country’s already-strict firearms laws.

Cabinet officials agreed that “strong, decisive, and focused actions” about firearms were needed as an immediate response to Sunday’s mass shooting at Australia’s iconic Bondi Beach near Sydney.

“The government is prepared to take whatever actions is necessary [and] included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” Mr. Albanese said.

The government will immediately commence work on additional restrictions on importing firearms and other weapons, including those made by 3-D printers or that can hold large amounts of ammunition. Further planned restrictions include limiting the number of firearms that can be owned, accelerating the implementation of a national firearms register, and banning non-Australian citizens from holding a firearms license, officials said.

The shooting has fueled charges that Mr. Albanese’s government hasn’t done enough to tackle a rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia since the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel by Hamas and the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, thousands of people had flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds who had gathered for the annual Hanukkah by the Sea celebration that marks the start of the Jewish holiday. Authorities said the suspected gunmen, unidentified but believed to be a 50-year-old man and his son, 24, moved toward the event and began firing.

Police shot the gunmen. The older man died at the scene while his son remains hospitalized, officials said.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said he was in close contact with U.S. officials at every level of law enforcement to ensure the security of Jewish communities following the massacre in Australia.

“Antisemitism and the acts of evil it inspires are a global scourge and on the rise in our communities,” Mr. Garbarino said in a statement. “We must remain vigilant and united in combating the surge in this vile hatred whenever it is found.”

On Monday, the 25 Jewish members of the House of Representatives released a statement saying they were in solidarity with Australia’s besieged Jewish community, who have been targeted because of their faith.

“Sadly, this attack does not come as a surprise to the Jewish community of Sydney, who have been raising a clarion call for local and national authorities to take concrete steps against a rising tide of antisemitism,” according to the bipartisan statement signed by Republicans like Rep. Randy Fine of Florida and Democrats like Rep. Brad Sherman of California.

“Antisemitism is a cancer that eats at the core of society, whether in Australia, the United States, or anywhere it is allowed to take root and grow,” the statement said. “Jews around the world will continue to gather this week to celebrate Hanukkah and its story of religious freedom and defiant optimism.”

Jilliam Segal, the Australian government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, said Sunday’s shooting didn’t come without warning. She said it followed several violent marches at iconic locations like the Sydney Opera House, where protestors waved terrorist flags and glorified extremist leaders.

“It’s been seeping into society for many years, and we have not come out strongly enough against it,” Ms. Segal said Monday during an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “The messaging has not been sufficient, and the education has not been sufficient, for people to understand what antisemitism is and how it destroys the community.”

Sunday’s shooting has prompted government officials in other countries to either curtail or outright ban holiday events. France will tighten security around their Christmas markets following a warning of a “very high” terror threat, officials said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez ordered French officials to treat festival gatherings as high-risk targets and to plan accordingly. 

Expensive security measures to combat terror attacks prompted officials in some German cities to cancel their annual Christmas markets. The group that organizes the festival in Overath, about 30 miles east of Cologne, can’t bear the cost of the required additional security measures, including hiring additional security personnel and cordoning off the area, according to the German newspaper Die Welt.

Christmas markets are also being shuttered in cities like Kerpen and Bonn following recent Islamist terror attacks at Christmas markets in Berlin and Magdeburg, which resulted in a total of 19 deaths.

“More than 2,000 Christmas markets take place in Germany,” Die Welt reported. “Christmas markets in other cities have also been cancelled, but for different reasons. For example, due to insufficient income for stall operators or due to renovation works at a castle, as in Dortmund.”

“Equipping the Persecuted,“ a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that provides support to persecuted Christians in Nigeria, said last week they have been told Nigerian government officials intercepted plans for a mass Christmas Day attack on Christian communities by Islamic radicals.

“On a day that we remember a ‘thrill of hope’ for our weary world to rejoice over the birth of our Lord and Savior, Christians living in the Middle Belt of Nigeria are on the precipice of a bloody massacre,” Equipping the Persecuted officials said in a statement.

U.S. officials are also increasing their security presence at Jewish events and locations. The New York Police Department late Sunday said they were “closely monitoring” the attack at Bondi Beach and were in close contact with their Australian partners.

“While there is currently no specific or credible threat to Hanukkah celebrations here, the N.Y.P.D. will be out in full force at events and synagogues so that our communities can gather safely,” officials said in a statement. “We are deploying additional resources to public Hanukkah celebrations and synagogues out of an abundance of caution.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said security has always been a major concern with armed guards and bulletproof glass at Jewish synagogues and community centers.

“You can never build walls that are high enough. But, we also shouldn’t have to,” Mr. Greenblatt said in a statement. “Being Jewish in 2025 — wherever you are — shouldn’t put a target on your back.”

The Jewish Federations of North America said their security initiatives in Canada and the United States were on high alert and each organization is in regular contact with its local security directors.

“While we will continue to do everything in our power to protect the safety of every Jew and every community, the primary responsibility for the security of every American and Canadian in their homes, in their places of worship, and in their communal gatherings — including when we gather in public spaces to celebrate Jewish holidays, belongs to the government,” officials said in a statement. “We hold them responsible and accountable for protecting our community during this holiday of Hanukkah and always.”