By Helen Reynolds
Australia is grieving after the deadly attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
Two Muslim men opened fire on a crowd of Jewish Australians gathered to celebrate a religious event. Lives were lost. Families were shattered. A community was targeted because of who they were.
That alone is horrific enough.
But there is another truth that must be stated just as clearly: one of the attackers was confronted, disarmed, and stopped by an unarmed bystander. That person – now rightly described as a hero – is also a Muslim.
These facts are not contradictory. They are not inconvenient. They are simply true.
And yet, in the aftermath, the response from parts of the political right – both here and overseas – has been as ugly as it has been predictable.
Almost immediately, right-wing Americans, including figures as senior as the Vice President, declared that this attack proves Australia’s strict gun laws have “failed”. This claim collapses under the slightest scrutiny.
Australia has not experienced a mass shooting on this scale for almost 30 years. That is not luck. It is policy. It is the result of gun reforms enacted after Port Arthur that dramatically reduced firearm deaths and effectively ended the regular cycle of mass shootings.
To be lectured by Americans – citizens of a country that has endured hundreds of mass shootings in the same period – is not just insulting. It is grotesque. Australia chose fewer coffins. The United States chose paralysis.
At the same time, right-wing voices closer to home seized on the attackers’ religion to demand the deportation of all Muslims. Not the perpetrators. All Muslims.
This is collective punishment masquerading as public safety. It is bigotry dressed up as resolve. And it would punish millions of law-abiding Australians for crimes they neither committed nor condoned.
Most revealing of all has been the reaction to the man who stopped the attack.
Rather than acknowledging that a Muslim man risked his life to save Jewish Australians, some right-wing figures – including American conspiracy influencer Laura Loomer – have insisted this cannot possibly be true. They have claimed, without evidence, that the hero must have been Christian. Reality, apparently, is negotiable when it threatens an ideology.
But facts do not bend to prejudice.
A Muslim committed an act of terror.
A Muslim committed an act of courage.
Both things are true – and pretending otherwise is an act of moral dishonesty.
In moments of national grief, societies reveal their character. This was a moment that called for mourning, solidarity, and restraint. Instead, it has been exploited by those who thrive on division – people who see tragedy not as a human catastrophe, but as an opportunity to harden borders, inflame hatred, and score political points.
Australia does not need imported gun propaganda.
It does not need mass deportation fantasies.
And it does not need conspiracy theories designed to erase inconvenient heroism.
What we need – now more than ever – is the decency to grieve without turning on one another, and the courage to reject those who would make our pain worse for profit or ideology.
Hate did enough damage already.
Also by Helen Reynolds:
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If anyone had any doubts that the Liberal, National and One Nation Party are forever unfit to govern Australia, their despicable, ghoulish and rotten politicisation of The Sunday, 14 December Massacre should permanently remove them.
Gun ownership is how this happened. To suggest that more guns would have prevented it is illogical.
Thank you Helen Reynolds for your insights.
It doesn’t fit the Right Wing narrative that the courage and humanity shown by Mr Ahmed Al Ahmed came not from his Muslim background but from his humanity. It doesn’t fit the One Nation/SKY narrative that we are being flooded with migrants and that this is a natural and foreseeable result of uncontrolled migration: the shooter came to this country in 1998 and his son was born here, they travelled to the Philippines on Indian Passports.
Josh Frydenberg says that Albanese is personally responsible and has blood on his hands. John Howard says that talk of further regulation of guns in our community is Albanese distracting the public away from his own personal culpability.
We even have Netanyahu saying that the Australian prime minister has been weak in not keeping the Jewish diaspora safe : has he so soon forgotten October 7 2023 which occurred on his watch when Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups entered Southern Israel, during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, killing 1200 and taking hostages. Netanyahu claims he has no responsibility and that the incursion was not foreseeable?
Australia doesn’t want nor does it need advice from USA and Israel about gun control, human rights or constitutional matters. If USA and Israel had any sense of reality they should be seeking advice as to how Australia is focussed on maintaining civil and human rights for our multi-cultural citizens despite the appalling influences and examples continually on display in both USA and Israel.
Related, it fits into a strategy from the US, as reported by the NYT earlier this year:
From the New York Times:
‘The Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement
Even before President Trump was re-elected, the Heritage Foundation, best known for Project 2025, set out to destroy pro-Palestinian activism in the United States….
….But critics such as Mr. Jacoby say the think tank is exploiting real concerns about antisemitism to advance its broader agenda of radically reshaping higher education and crushing progressive movements more generally.
Project Esther exclusively focuses on antisemitism on the left, ignoring antisemitic harassment and violence from the right. It has drawn criticism from many Jewish organizations amid increasing calls for them to push back against the Trump administration.’
‘An open letter from three dozen former leaders of major Jewish establishment groups, including a former national chair of the Anti-Defamation League, recently warned that “a range of actors are using a purported concern about Jewish safety as a cudgel to weaken higher education, due process, checks and balances, freedom of speech and the press.”’
What really got up my nose (apart from the Red Witch and Purple Bananababy Scumbag Performance Duo) was Josh getting up there and callously using the murders as a platform to basically announce his run for a seat in 2028. Low, very, very low.
What happened after is that John Howard & Josh Frydenberg are seeking to drive a wedge within this country for their own flawed agendas…. that Liberals are the only ones who know how to govern?
Really?
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/howard-has-gone-too-far-his-comments-about-albanese-tear-us-apart-20251216-p5no95.html
There is no place for that kind of perspective any longer.
I remember saying after Albo won in 2025 that it would take an act of God to remove him from power, so comprehensive was his victory.
And now the bastards have one.
Like clockwork, the COALition has turned this unspeakable tragedy into a convenient avenue to chip away his armour and remove him from office.
In short, this event is to Albanese what the carbon tax backflip was to Gillard, and I fear it will take nothing short of draconian action against the extremists and their supporters to abate the anger of the Jewish diaspora.
Speaking of which, there are 800,000 or so Muslims in Australia compared to 122,000 Jews – and unfortunately, the lion’s share of those Muslims are Lebanese, who are well aware of Israel’s genocidal ways.
Despite this, the Muslim community in Sydney put their feelings on Palestine aside to not only disarm the dead shooter and refuse to retrieve his body, but also deny the dead shooter his burial rites – an act tantamount to excommunication in Islam, from what I understand.
If only for their safety, Australian Jews should make an effort to distance themselves from the conflict as these Muslims have done – and perhaps declaring that enough damage has been inflicted onto Palestine and calling for peace and decolonisation might erase the targets on their backs.
And speaking of responsibility, while it’s up for debate how much Albanese has done to stem anti-Semitic acts, a point no-one’s mentioned is that ASIO investigated and failed to join the dots when Scummo (aka Mr Not-My-Job-Except-When-Half-The-Cabinet-Is-Too-Busy-Rorting-To-Do-Their-Jobs) was in charge.
So by that logic, Frydenburg and his shitheap of a political cabal have also got themselves to blame for not doing anything to prevent it either.
Even the great Will Shakespeare found that dealing with the Jewish faith is going to be tricky.
They will insist on their pound of flesh.
Attempting to make the Jewish community safe is a project destined to fail because their culture places them as victims always. They will never be satisfied, and a casual browse through their history will confirm this. Albo needs to know this. Jeremy Corbyn has been on the receiving end only recently.
Despite their most high profile leader being wanted for genocide, and if he called in here we could arrest him, then the Jew flag gets waved to provoke, and prove they are bullet proof.
Our parliament is sprinkled with Jewish persons working for Australia until their pound of flesh is held up, and then they will white ant the building for their first love.
It does seem as if we are going to have our education system amended country wide to reflect who gets the pound of flesh, and who are the goyin destined to serve them, whether they are lawful or criminal.
Unless we focus on the approaching tipping point, we could wind up like USA which would be tragic.
Douglas Pritchard
That is hate speech, it would have been hate speech before the Albanese government adopted Segel’s report and it is still hate speech.
Labelling the entire Jewish community as having a culture of perpetual victims is wrong, it is false, it is hate speech.
It is false to call it the “Jew flag”, it is the flag of Israel, Israel does not represent all Jews – that is a false Israeli trope.
Labelling the Jewish community as ‘little flowers’ whilst labelling a picnic in public space as an act of provocation, as you did in your earlier post benefits the neo-Nazi cause.
Giving what amounts to an apologist’s interpretation of a neo-Nazi’s sign that said ‘Abolish the Jewish lobby’ as you did in your earlier post serves a neo-Nazi agenda.
Characterizing neo-Nazi protesters as a ‘bunch of boys’ serves a neo-Nazi agenda, many of these neo-Nazis were bussed to Sydney from Melbourne, it is extremely likely that some, if not many, were part of the thirty-odd neo-Nazi group who armed themselves with poles and attacked a group of mainly women in a Melbourne park. Some went on to harass and assault travelers on trains. They should have been arrested in that park, they weren’t. If they were amongst the Sydney protesters, then they are criminals not a ‘bunch of boys’.
Hate speech directed at Jewish communities benefits Netanyahu and his genocidal government because it allows them to promulgate the supposed need for Israel as a safe haven for Jews. Antisemitism benefits Netanyahu and his supporters.
Why on Earth you would want to do the bidding of both neo-Nazi ideologues and the supremacist Israel government is beyond me, but that post and your previous two posts do this discussion a disservice.
Gonggongche,
I am aware it can be labelled as hate speech. I have experienced (i believe) the ultimate in hate speech coming from the lips of a Jewish person when asked about the middle east situation several years ago now, and I am no spring chicken.
I try and document the state of play as it is, and while I listen to wall to wall commentary on whether Jews pass the pub test or not, it is wise to contemplate what may work to make us ALL “safe”.
Listening to current discussion a lot of Jews hid their identity (to secure safety), and that worked, so what has changed.
Noting their numbers are low statistically.
I can recall when Israel was born and the history since then has been all about hate speech, and hate actions as a result of one religous cult who are conditioned to believe they will simply do what they can get away with,(USA helping).
What we have here is precious, and to see it distorted to suit the needs of a cult with needs that trample our freedoms is worth spending a bit of time on.
You may find this disturbing but being polite to villians has us going backwards.
Douglas Pritchard,
there is a lot that is wrong with what has happened in Australia since Oct 7th, hate speech does not help to address those problems, it hinders the effort to have those wrongs corrected as soon as possible.
Submissions to the parliamentary inquiry into the election show you would not be the only person to be the victim of hate speech coming from extremist pro-Israeli supporters, but to respond with hate serves Netanyahu and his Australian supporters.
Language is important, it is vitally important to distinguish between the entire Jewish community and pro-Israeli supporters, indeed distinguishing within the pro-Israeli community and at times the extremists within that group.
Gonggongche,
It would nice to get a detailed independant report on what exactly did happen on, and about 7th Oct, because you may believe the Israel line, but I do not (same as 9/11, but we dont have time for that).
Language is important and Mossad knows that so that their investment in whitewash has been astronomic. I am a bit of a fan for Lowensteins scribbling, but USA in collusion with Bibi has a very different view which is currently causing death, and misery for the very worthy folk who live in Gaza, and West Bank.
Have the Jewish community living an “unsafe” life in this Country made any efforts to prevent genocide, and persecution of the Palestinian people?
I have never seen evidence of this, and we are speaking of their homeland
All we hear from them are complaints about life in this country, and how far we have to go to please them.
As usual its one sided and we have to accommodate them same as the middle east when Israels neighbors were required to change( still going on) at the point of a gun.
I think the right-wingers need to get their act together and stop the political hit game.
I have heard today prospective candidate for Kooyong, Josh Frydenberg (who finds it offensive in the extreme to accuse him of playing politics) demand a Royal Commission into Bondi even though that would take two years to report what we already know.
Then there was Susssan this morning saying the time for talking is over and now is the time for action (over antisemitism).
There is always a helpful journalist available asking, should Anthony Albanese resign? and of course the answer from the right is a rousing ‘yes’.
These guys need to pull their heads in!
SKY are incensed that Albo did not only fail to attend the Rabbi’s funeral yesterday but he has also not attended the young girl’s funeral today – he has said that funerals are intensely private family affairs and of course were he to be invited he would attend – when he announces the forthcoming national memorial service at Bondi they will say too little too late – give me strength!
Douglas Pritchard,
“the Israel line” has been a lie built on a lie, built on a lie going back as far as its creation in 1948 and well beyond through the Zionists. There is much I suspect we agree on, but hate speech does no good.
Condemn actions and those who hold and wield power and by all means in strong terms, but be very, very careful with condemnation of collectives. It is factually wrong to suggest the Jewish community has not made any efforts to prevent genocide and persecution of the Palestinian people; it is neo-Nazis that benefit from that language. I would agree there has been little to no criticism from pro-Israel supporters of the genocide in Gaza let alone efforts to stop it, but it is utterly false to say the Jewish community has not made any efforts to prevent the genocide.
It was reported that there were Jewish students that took part in protests at universities, there were many Jews that attended regularly protests against the genocide in Gaza, the Jewish Council of Australia have lobbied vigorously against the genocide and against each and every step the Albanese government has undertaken in line with the pro-Israeli lobby demands. These anti-genocide activists get labelled as kapos and Jew-haters by extremist pro-Israeli supporters, the last thing they deserve is hate speech.
“I’ve never seen evidence of this,..” then seriously you haven’t been looking in the right places, it is time to examine your newsfeed.
The Albanese government has just adopted the Segal report, this shooting makes advocating for a rational and humanitarian approach to the genocide of Palestinians, the repression of Palestinian recognition and solidarity with Palestinians in Australian much harder. Hate speech will make it impossible.
Gonggongche,
I am listening to Albo tell me that hate speech will no longer be allowed.
I can no longer be critical of Israel while it conducts genocide. I cant hate Bibi, nor any of his fellow accomplices.
“Anti-semite” (again) is effectively weaponized, rather like lifting the right arm.
Heavens above, what next?
This does not alter my thoughts but there will be no means of expressing my anger. I won`t be joining the local gun club to enable a bit of action, but you can bet your sweet life that suppressing opinion is going to result in the odd individuals doing terrible stuff, and maybe thats what the new masters want?
When I say “I have never seen evidence…..”Derek used to work for me and we called him Gunner. Gunner do this, gunner do that, never happened, zero effective.
Douglas:
Plenty of us here – most, in fact, manage to express our opinions on Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians without descending into outright hate speech. That makes this look like a you problem.
Douglas Pritchard,
I’ve read on The Guardian as it happened feed the same things. I think we may be having our own mini 9/11 and we saw how the grief it created was weaponized for nefarious political purposes. Minns has already moved to shut down protests.
But there is also this:
“Max Kaiser, the executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, said his group was concerned culture wars could divide communities and distract from the need for a unified response to antisemitism.”
and ‘Jesse McNicoll, who is part of the group Jewish Voices of Inner Sydney, said it was “outrageous” that the pain of his community could be used to shut down a movement “opposing genocide”.
“The protests had nothing to do with the attacks,” he said.’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/18/activists-condemn-premier-plan-restrict-rallies-protests-bondi-shooting-ntwnfb
We are not alone in opposing the weaponization of this to further repress dissent at the Albanese government’s complicity in genocide and to repress solidarity with Palestinians. Hate speech works only to strength Minns, Albanese and the pro-Israeli lobby’s hands in using this horrific massacre to do Netanyahu’s bidding.
Clearly, a response to make sure the Jewish population is safe from murder is necessary at this time, but the conflation of peaceful protest movements with this shooting is wrong.
These new laws will probably be taken to court as unconstitutional and we need to support dissent against Labor’s kneejerk reaction, or bowing to coercion, with firm but non-hateful discussion and protest.
We need to take our anger out on actions not people, direct our condemnations at governments and decisions not communities, point out the inaccuracies and falsehoods of vested interests and extremist lobbyists but not direct hate speech at them.
Leefe,
I was married to a smart lass for 21 years and rarely did I not get the reminder that the problem was me. I have come to realise its true.
It does not prevent me thinking.
Gonggongche,
Ok I have now seen panic mode in government mode, and if it had anything to do with the famed Jewish Lobby I would not want to be critical. I could be sharing a cell with someone even nastier than me.
If its like 9/11 then no surprise because the sponsor of the project has pre-determined who, or what, will be held responsible. Hence we invaded Iraq, and stole their oil which has got no connection with the amateur pilots, and where they were born. Trump is even more direct by simply stealing from Venezuela with just a hazy reason, and the colossal weight of his forces.
When I first listened to Segal i nearly peed my pants with merriment. What a far fetched list of demands, which planet is this person from.
But again I am wrong. With her on his right hand and Jewish board of deputies on the other hand, and panic in the air, I`m sure we are headed for interesting times.
Meanwhile I must get a copy of Poor Leens constitution ready for the next election.
Haven’t read all the posts, but for the first time must question Gongong Che, who I think misses the forest for the trees.
I almost felt I was reading A Commentator after that.
Yes Doug, if a few people here somehow need”protecting” what about millions of Palestinians?
No excuses.
Douglas Pritchard,
the day before yesterday I watched a middleeasteye video of a Palestinian journalist who had been released from prison. He described in graphic detail how a group of Israeli prison guards had blindfolded him, beaten him severely and then raped him with some kind of metal rod, while they belittled and laughed at him. It ended with him saying he survived because he knew others had had worse treatment, at least he hadn’t been raped by a dog or a prison guard. I had seen an article earlier saying Israel was training dogs to rape people, I thought it likely propaganda until I saw that video.
It was one of well over 500 days I would guess of reading and seeing psychopathic inhumanity towards Palestinians, and of watching and reading of Australians persecuted and their lives devastated through the actions of extremist pro-Israeli supporters in pressuring institutions and governments.
You’re not alone, we are seething with anger, but funnel that anger by criticizing the adopting of Segal’s report because it will probably make this comment of mine illegal in future, funnel that anger at the action of a supposed news reporter bailing up Mehreen Faruqi as she went to pay her respects as a NSW Senator and accusing her of causing the shooting by criticizing the conflation of protest against genocide as antisemitism, funnel that anger at the action of Coalition and One Nation politicians by criticizing their shameless weaponizing grief for their own political gains.
Releasing our anger in hate speech benefits Netanyahu.
Douglas:
Just one more comment; Read this, and think – https://theaimn.net/reflections/