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Celebrity Responses to Sydney Attack Raise Questions
Clear Facts
- A mass shooting occurred during a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach, Sydney, resulting in sixteen deaths, including one suspected gunman.
- The attack was confirmed by New South Wales Police Force officials as targeted at the Jewish community and is under investigation as terrorism.
- Numerous public figures, including Gal Gadot, Ashton Kutcher, and President Trump, responded, calling for unity and public awareness against antisemitism.
Sixteen people, including members of the Jewish community and one suspect, lost their lives during a mass shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney, while celebrating the first night of Hanukkah. The New South Wales Police Force confirmed the attack was planned against Jews and labeled it a terror incident, with another suspect critically injured and at least 29 others hospitalized.
Gal Gadot expressed her grief, stating the attack struck “at a sacred moment of community and hope.”
“My heart is shattered,” Gadot wrote on Instagram. “Following the anti-Semitic terror attack in Bondi Beach, Australia, the grief is immense. Fifteen innocent souls – including a Holocaust survivor, a rabbi and a child – were senselessly murdered while celebrating the first night of Chanukah, the Festival of Light.”
She continued, “This darkness deliberately struck at a sacred moment of community and hope. It is easy to feel defeated. But let us be clear: our strength is not in despair, but in the light we fiercely choose to create in this terrible void.”
“We must honor the victims not with silence, but by demanding a world where every life is safe, and by choosing empathy and unity above all else.”
“Send light into the darkness,” Gadot urged. “Let’s make sure love is the loudest voice. I will light my Chanukah candle tonight in their honor and for a world of light. Only light.”
Ashton Kutcher addressed antisemitism and its real-world impacts through social media.
“Antisemitic rhetoric is not abstract—it carries a cost, and my brothers and sisters continue to pay it. May this devastation somehow spark a hidden miracle, one our eyes do not yet have the merit to see.”
Australian actress Rebel Wilson called the violence “un-Australian” and emphasized that gun violence and antisemitism do not align with the nation’s values. She offered thoughts for those affected by the tragedy.
Sara Foster voiced her concern in the aftermath, saying prayers were not enough after continuing hate crimes against Jews.
“What did we expect? We have sat back dismissing hate crimes against Jewish people, swastikas on pre schools, college campuses turned into antisemitic indoctrination institutions, the refusal to condemn ‘globalize the intifada’ by American politicians, the acceptance of people who openly chant for the death of Jews(and the west), invited terrorists who have told us they hate us to live amongst us, and shamed the people who have spoken against it,” she wrote.
“Well we have had enough. We have had ENOUGH. Praying for the innocent families in Australia isn’t enough. WAKING up to what is happening is the only option.”
President Donald Trump encouraged Americans to take pride in their identity and not hide during Hanukkah, saying, “Celebrate proudly – be proud of who you are.”
King Charles III expressed condolences, saying, “My wife and I are appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack on Jewish people attending the Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach.”
The police continue to investigate the possibility of a third suspect and described the event as part of a disturbing trend of targeted violence against Jewish communities, reminiscent of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog acknowledged the attack and urged unity and prayer for the wounded and the families who lost loved ones.
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