Testimony before a Royal Commission revealed police did not conduct a threat assessment or deploy requested officers ahead of the Bondi Beach attack that killed 15 people.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
An Australian public inquiry examining the deadly attack at a Hanukkah celebration near Bondi Beach heard Monday that state police neither prepared a formal threat assessment for the gathering nor approved a request from Jewish community security officials for a dedicated police presence at the event.
The testimony emerged during hearings before a Royal Commission investigating the circumstances surrounding the December attack at Bondi Beach, where 15 people attending a Jewish Hanukkah event were killed.
Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker of the New South Wales Police Force acknowledged during questioning that no threat assessment had been conducted prior to the gathering despite warnings raised beforehand.
“I see no reason why a threat assessment could not be completed for that event,” McCusker testified, adding that such an evaluation could have helped authorities determine security measures appropriate to the threat environment.
The inquiry heard that police typically reserve formal threat assessments for major events or high-profile religious observances, including certain Jewish holy days, but that Hanukkah celebrations did not routinely fall into that category.
Evidence presented during the hearings showed that the Jewish community security organization CSG had independently warned authorities about elevated risks associated with the event. The group reportedly submitted its own threat assessment to police before the gathering took place.
According to testimony, the assessment warned that Hanukkah celebrations could face heightened risks of violent or antisemitic incidents because of the increased visibility of Jewish attendees and the public nature of the event.
An anonymous member of CSG told the commission that he requested a “static” police deployment at the outdoor celebration because the private security organization could not carry firearms while working the event.
The witness testified that concerns centered on the expected crowd size, the open-air location, and anxiety within the Jewish community about potential threats.
“I said that there would be a lot of unease from the community not having a static police presence on the ground,” the witness stated.
The Royal Commission also heard testimony linking the broader rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia to tensions stemming from the Israel-Gaza conflict following the October 2023 outbreak of war.
Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, testified that antisemitic behavior intensified after the conflict began and that authorities believed some conduct became normalized over time.
“The war in the Middle East invoked a range of emotions in Australia,” Burgess told the inquiry. “Some of those violent aspects … and those behaviors, including antisemitism that, in our view, were left unchecked, were therefore normalized and gave more permission for violence … and Jewish Australians were on the receiving end.”
Burgess said Australian intelligence officials observed antisemitic incidents escalating from threats and intimidation into direct attacks targeting Jewish individuals, businesses, schools, homes, synagogues, and vehicles during late 2024.
The inquiry was further told that Australia’s national terrorism threat level had been raised from “possible” to “probable” in August 2024 amid growing concerns over politically and religiously motivated violence.
Burgess testified that investigators concluded Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was responsible for two antisemitic attacks in Australia, including incidents involving a kosher restaurant in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.
He added that intelligence officials suspected Iran may have been connected to additional attacks but said authorities lacked sufficient evidence to definitively establish responsibility in every case.
“There was absolutely a concern that the antisemitism could escalate to actual terrorist acts” after the Gaza war began, testified Stephen Nutt of the Australian Federal Police.
Earlier hearings conducted by the commission focused extensively on testimony from members of Australia’s Jewish community regarding the scale and impact of rising antisemitic incidents across the country.
Original article
Comments