Australia begins funerals for Bondi Beach shooting victims

Australia on Wednesday held the first funeral for victims of the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as members of the Jewish community and the wider public gathered in grief following one of the country’s deadliest attacks in recent years.

The shooting occurred on Sunday evening at a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach, when Sajid Akram and his son Naveed opened fire, killing 15 people and injuring dozens. The victims included a 10-year-old girl, two Holocaust survivors and a married couple who were shot while trying to stop the attackers.

The first funeral service was held at the Chabad of Bondi Synagogue for Eli Schlanger, a father of five known widely as the “Bondi rabbi”. The Chabad movement said Schlanger served as a chaplain in prisons and hospitals and was deeply committed to community service.

Emotional scenes unfolded as mourners wept while his body was brought into the synagogue in a black coffin, with some overcome by grief as they clung to the casket. Jewish community leader Alex Ryvchin told mourners that Schlanger represented “the very best of us”.

A second funeral was scheduled later in the day at the same synagogue for 39-year-old rabbi Yaakov Levitan, a father of four renowned for his charitable work.

Police maintained a heavy presence outside the synagogue, managing large crowds and tightening security amid heightened tensions.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the day would be particularly difficult for the community as the first victims were laid to rest. “My heart goes out to the community today and every day,” he said in a radio interview.

Authorities said the attack was intended to sow fear among Australia’s Jewish population. Albanese said investigators believe the father-and-son gunmen were radicalised by an “ideology of hate”, adding that the violence appeared to have been inspired by Islamic State ideology. He made the remarks earlier this week in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Questions are also mounting over whether the attack could have been prevented. Naveed Akram, described in local media as an unemployed bricklayer, had reportedly come to the attention of Australia’s intelligence agency in 2019, but was not assessed as an imminent threat and later fell off active monitoring.

As funerals continue, Australia is grappling with renewed concerns over extremist radicalisation and the challenge of preventing similar acts of mass violence in the future.

With agency inputs