Sydney Terror Attack a Wake-Up Call on Italy’s Antisemitism

Sunday’s terrorist attack targeting a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Australia, led to the death of 16 people, including Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger, and a significant number of injured.

According to initial reports, the two attackers, apparently of Pakistani origin, opened fire with rifles into the crowd. One was disarmed by a civilian, while the other was reportedly killed by police. One aspect that must be emphasized is the predictability of the attack and the prior denunciation by the Jewish community, which, however, was not responded to by the Australian authorities. The result: the dead and injured.

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) Executive Director Colin Rubenstein said in a statement that they had been warning for years about the unceasing antisemitic vitriol on the streets of Australia that would eventually evolve into antisemitic violence if left unchecked. Rubenstein added: “We have warned that verbal abuse becomes graffiti, becomes arson, becomes physical violence, becomes murder. This is the outcome of the calls we have heard far too often at marches through our cities to globalize the intifada and that all Zionists are terrorists…Our governments and authorities must act to end this hateful incitement.”

The situation was further confirmed by the leader of Australia’s Jewish Association, Robert Gregory, who told the AFP: “The Albanese government was warned so many times but failed to take adequate actions to protect the Jewish community”.

Antisemitism on the rise in Europe and, specifically, in Italy

Unfortunately, the situation regarding anti-Semitism is serious elsewhere too, in the United States, in Europe, and specifically in Italy, as already highlighted in an article by Rossella Trecatin recently published on The Times of Israel and entitled: “With Gaza a rallying cry in Italy, a growing number justify hostility against its Jews”.

Among other things highlighted in the article, according to a survey published in September by SWG, around 15% of Italians consider physical attacks on Jewish people “entirely or fairly justifiable.” Moreover, the most recent report by the Milan-based Osservatorio Antisemitismo-CDEC revealed that, in 2024, its anti-Semitism watchdog received 877 complaints about anti-Semitic incidents in the country, compared to 454 in 2023 and 241 in 2022.

According to the latest information by the same observatory, the cases reported in the latest months have reached 1000 (per month). The Italian Jewish community and, especially, Milan’s President of the local Community, Walker Meghnagi, have been denouncing the rise of anti-Semitism for quite some time.

On November 30, 2025, the Bet Michael synagogue in Rome was vandalized during a pro-Palestinian demonstration with writings such as “Free Palestine” and “Monteverde anti-Zionist anti-fascist”. Moreover, the commemorative plaque dedicated to Stefano Gaj Tachè, the Italian Jewish child killed in the terrorist attack of October 9, 1982, to whom the synagogue is dedicated, was also wrecked. A few days earlier, a university student was threatened when unknown individuals left a piece of paper on his desk with the Magen David crossed out and the warning “we know where you live”.

On November 10, a group of young American Orthodox Jews on their way to Venice was attacked at Stazione Centrale in Milan by a 25-year-old Pakistani man, who shouted hateful remarks against Israel and violently struck one of the boys, injuring his head.

In September 2025, two young American Jews were assaulted in Florence. The attacker shouted anti-Semitic insults and “free Palestine” before lashing his belt against the sidewalk.

These are just the latest in a long list of cases reported in the last two years, along with thousands of “pro-Pal” demonstrations staged by Islamist groups, Palestinian associations, and far-left groups. Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, continues to spread propaganda in Italian schools.

Albanese was already sanctioned on July 9, 2025, by the US State Department on accusations of anti-Semitism and support for terrorism. In early December, the Italian daily newspaper Il Giornale revealed that, in November 2022, Albanese attended an event named “16 Years of Siege on Gaza: Impact and Prospects” with Hamas and PIJ members, including Ghazi Hamad, Bassem Naim, Ahmed al-Mudallal, and Khader Habib. (Read the Times of Israel article here).

Another individual who was sanctioned twice in 8 months by the US Department of Treasury’s OFAC (October 2024 and June 2025), Palestinian preacher Mohammad Hannoun, indicated by Washington as “Hamas’ money collector in Italy”, is still fully active on Italian soil.

And how about the Turin-based Moroccan preacher and activist Brahim Baya ? The individual was recently invited to speak at a school in southern Italy where he made a similarity between the October 7, 2023, massacre perpetrated by Hamas and the April 1943 Jewish uprising against the Nazi extermination in Warsaw, Poland.

Baya stated: “The Jews in the ghetto rebelled against their German captors and did some very uncivilized things. But from people who are starving, under embargo, being killed, and having bombs thrown at them whenever they wanted, you can’t expect a nonviolent reaction. If you starve and kill me, you can’t expect anything from me”.

Regarding October 7, Baya further said: “Many things have happened, including the breaking of this embargo, and unfortunately, some unpleasant things have also happened, if we can put it that way”.

As highlighted by Francesca Galici for Il Giornale, “It’s at least sugarcoating the term “unpleasant things” to describe the deliberate and inhumane slaughter”.

The lack of response from authorities is an incentive for action

The Sydney massacre is the consequence of a lack of active measures against the wave of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli hatred that has been rampant for too long. The issue goes far beyond Australia and involves Europe as well.

When policymakers and authorities tolerate it, perhaps by hiding behind the so-called “freedom of expression”, citing technical difficulties, or simply declaring that everything is under control when in reality it isn’t, the game is lost from the start. The extremists feel unpunished and free to act. That’s when “extremism” turns into “terrorism”. Two faces of the same coin.

It’s wrong to wait and intervene only when a cell or individual is about to take action. The ideology that fuels violence must be nipped in the bud. The Trump administration understood this, and, albeit belatedly, Washington is beginning to move in this direction by banning the Muslim Brotherhood, Antifa, and groups supporting Hamas.

This is a dynamic that affects everyone. From Australia to Europe to America, without distinction. If you’re afraid to act immediately and effectively against those who spread hatred, then you’ve already lost, because sooner or later something will happen, just like today in Australia.

AIJAC Executive Director, Colin Rubenstein, is absolutely correct when he says: “…verbal abuse becomes graffiti, becomes arson, becomes physical violence, becomes murder”. This is the reality of facts that sidelines all excuses backing the unwillingness to act.