Potential Terrorist Threats to Israeli and Jewish Interests in Australia

Dror Doron

Overview^[1]

• On December 14, 2025, two Muslim terrorists, who according to assessments by the Australian authorities had been inspired by ISIS, shot participants at a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach in Sydney. Fifteen people were killed, including a child and a Holocaust survivor.
• The attack was the culmination of a wave of antisemitism which has been directed at the Jewish community in Australia since the Hamas terrorist attack and massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, and has been responsible for thousands of incidents of violent and verbal assaults, arson attacks on property, incitement on social media and antisemitic graffiti.
• The October 7, 2023 attack and massacre was followed by large demonstrations led by pro-Palestinian organizations and fueled a discourse of hatred and anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement, with broad support from the Muslim community in Australia. At protest demonstrations support was voiced for Hamas, despite its being designated a terrorist organization in Australia, alongside calls for the destruction of Israel.
• Australian authorities identified Iran as responsible for several antisemitic attacks, following which the Iranian ambassador was expelled and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was declared a terrorism-supporting entity.
• As the attack in Sydney revealed, figures associated with extreme Islamist worldviews, including Muslim preachers against whom no legal measures have been taken by the authorities, also play a prominent role.
• The expanding circle of threats against Israeli and Jewish interests in Australia poses a significant challenge for the country’s authorities, who are attempting to balance the need to combat antisemitic incitement and the threats it fuels with the need to preserve liberal values, especially freedom of expression, religion and assembly for pro-Palestinian organizations protesting Israeli activity in the Gaza Strip. In ITIC assessment, as long as the authorities do not take concrete action against the promotion of antisemitic incitement, Hamas, Iran and global jihad organizations will find fertile ground in Australia for recruiting operatives who will turn antisemitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric into acts of violence like the Bondi Beach attack.

The Bondi Beach attack and the Wave of Antisemitism in Australia

• On December 14, 2025, two Muslim terrorists shot at participants at a ceremony for lighting the first Hanukkah candle, held at the popular Bondi Beach in Sydney. Fifteen people were killed in the attack, most of them members of the Jewish community, including a 10-year-old girl, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, and a Chabad emissary, and more than 40 others were wounded. One of the attackers, Sajid Akram (50 years old), was killed, and his son, Navid Akram (24 years old), was shot and wounded and later indicted on charges of murder and terrorism. The Australian Federal Police suspected that the two terrorists had been inspired by ISIS, and had carried out the attack after meticulous planning which included weapons training and gathering intelligence; explosive devices and an ISIS flag were found in their vehicle. They stayed at a hotel in the Philippines during November 2025, in an area known as a center of ISIS activity, although police noted that no evidence had so far been found indicating that they received training, logistical assistance or external instructions to carry out the attack while in the Philippines The investigation is ongoing (Australian media, December 14–31, 2025).

• The attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney occurred during a wave of antisemitism which has been directed at the Jewish community in Australia since the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack and massacre. According to data from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry published in early December 2025, prior to the Sydney attack the annual average of antisemitic incidents during the two years since October 7, 2023 stood at 1,858 incidents, compared to an annual average of 342 incidents during the decade from October 2014 to September 2023. There were 65 physical assaults in 2024 and 24 physical assaults in 2025 (until October 1); 622 verbal assaults in 2024 and 621 verbal assaults in 2025; 393 incidents of antisemitic graffiti in 2024 and 393 incidents in 2025 (Executive Council of Australian Jewry website, December 3, 2025).
• Data from Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism indicate that after the Bondi Beach attack, antisemitic discourse on social media rose by hundreds of percentage points, with 17,100 antisemitic references recorded on the day of the attack, an increase of about 420% compared to the daily volume prior to the attack, more than 21,500 references (Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, December 25, 2025).^[2]

Support for Hamas and Incitement from Pro-Palestinian Organizations

The Muslim and Palestinian Communities in Australia

• The Muslim community in Australia numbers about 813,000 people, out of approximately 25.4 million residents in Australia, according to the most recent census data from 2021. Most live in Sydney in New South Wales (about 349,000) and in Melbourne in Victoria (about 273,000). The number of Arabic speakers exceeds 367,000, making Arabic the third most common language in Australia after English and Mandarin. According to the census, 15,607 people stated they were of Palestinian origin, about 9,500 of them residing in New South Wales and about 3,400 in Victoria. Census data also showed that more than 454,000 people were born in the Middle East, of whom 2,959 were born in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 28, 2022).

The Leaders of the Pro-Hamas Demonstrations

• The Hamas terrorist attack and massacre on October 7, 2023 led to a wave of identification with Hamas that included mass demonstrations led by various pro-Palestinian organizations in Australia that received broad support from the Muslim population. Over the past two years, the demonstrations have been accompanied by antisemitic chants and protest actions, increased by the war in the Gaza Strip and the images from the Strip circulated in the media.
• Palestinian organizations publicly express opposition to Zionism, which they view as a “racist ideology,” and categorically reject the definitions of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), particularly the assertion that opposition to Zionism and to the existence of Israel constitutes antisemitism. The distinction has been exploited over the past two years for extensive activity protesting Israel and Zionism and has created an atmosphere of incitement in the public space and in academic institutions directed against the Jewish community, the majority of which identifies as Zionist.
• Among the prominent organizations leading the demonstrations are the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN), led by Nasser Mashni, an Australian of Palestinian origin, and Palestine Action, which operates under its auspices. The organizations were behind the demonstration held outside the Sydney Opera House on October 9, 2023, just two days after the Hamas terrorist attack and massacre, which included antisemitic chants such as “gas the Jews” and “where are the Jews” (Reuters, October 10, 2023). These groups take an extremely radical line which is consistent with Hamas policy, under which they deny Israel’s existence, oppose its right to self-defense and view the Hamas attack and massacre as “legitimate resistance” (APAN website, October 8, 2023). According to a publication on the organization’s strategy for 2026–2028, one of their goals is to achieve “a diverse movement that will pressure institutions, adopt the boycott movement and act for Palestine,” while simultaneously working among elected officials to gain their support and strengthen ties with labor organizations and the media (APAN website, November 21, 2025). Ahead of the expected visit of President Isaac Herzog to Australia in early 2026, the organization called on the public to report him to the Ministry of Home Affairs for “war crimes” to prevent his entry into the country (APAN Facebook page, December 24, 2025).

• At the end of 2001, Australia designated the Hamas movement in its entirety as a target for economic sanctions for terrorist activity, with the military wing added to the list of terrorist organizations in November 2003 and the political wing in March 2022. Australian law stipulates that membership in a designated terrorist organization, fundraising for the organization, or receiving training or recruitment to its ranks are criminal offenses carrying a penalty of up to 25 years’ imprisonment.^[3] Regardless, during the demonstrations held since the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre, Hamas flags and images of Yahya al-Sinwar, the former head of the political bureau, were displayed, without law-enforcement authorities’ taking action against those involved (Australian Jewish News, September 12, 2025). On the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre, pro-Hamas graffiti were sprayed at various sites in Melbourne, including “October 7, do it again” and “Glory to Hamas” (9News, October 7, 2025).
• Slogans such as “globalize the intifada” and “from the river to the sea” have been widely used in demonstrations led by Palestinian protest organizations. Alongside the opinion that Hamas’ actions constitute “legitimate resistance,” many regard terrorist slogans as incitement paving the way for violence against the Jewish community. In the wake of the Bondi Beach attack, authorities are examining the possibility of legally banning the use of such slogans, similar to the situation in Germany since October 7, 2023.
• Over the past two years, on occasion protests led by pro-Palestinian organizations have escalated into physical violence requiring police intervention and ostensibly granting demonstrators the legitimacy to engage in violence which goes beyond legitimate protest as a facet of freedom of expression. Examples include the riots surrounding a security exhibition in Melbourne, an attempt to disrupt the event in protest of the participation of Israeli companies (9News, September 11, 2024), and the attempt to disrupt operations at the Port of Melbourne to prevent the Israeli shipping company ZIM from using port facilities (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 22, 2024).

The Involvement of Muslim Religious Figures

• Muslim institutions in Australia are sharply confrontational with Israel. One example is the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr. Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, who met with the leadership of the Hamas movement during a visit to the Gaza Strip, during which he stated that he was “happy to stand on the land of jihad and learn from its sons…” (The Daily Telegraph Australia, December 31, 2012). Abu Mohammed is also a member of the board of directors of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, a religious organization based in Qatar and identified with the Muslim Brotherhood, and headed for many years by the extremist cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The organization publicly supports Hamas’ terrorist activity, has published several fatwas justifying the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre and calls on Muslims to wage jihad and support the “campaign” against Israel (International Union of Muslim Scholars website, April 9, 2025).^[4]
• Immediately after the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack and massacre, Mufti Abu Mohammed issued a statement supporting the operation, which he described as “legitimate resistance.” He declared that “the blood of the shaheeds will smell like perfume,” while rejecting Israel’s right to self-defense. At demonstrations organized by pro-Palestinian activists, he reiterated his position regarding the “legitimacy of Hamas resistance”^[5] (Abu Mohammed’s Facebook page, October 10, 2023). To mark two years since the Hamas attack and massacre, Abu Mohammed published an op-ed in a Qatar-affiliated newspaper reflecting Hamas positions, praising the actions of the “resistance in Palestine”^[6] and criticizing anyone calling for its disarmament or removal from power in the Strip (Arabi21, October 24, 2025).
• The environment in Australia which supports of the propaganda narrative promoted by Hamas could be fertile ground for the movement in its efforts to establish operational networks enabling it to carry out attacks, as has been exposed in recent months in Europe.^[7]

Iran’s Terrorist Infrastructure in Australia

• Iran is an additional factor threatening Jewish and Israeli interests in Australia, as revealed by the Australian authorities in August 2025. Investigations by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) determined that the Iranian regime was behind the arson of a Jewish restaurant in Sydney in October 2024 and synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024, with reports noting that the Israeli Mossad had provided information that assisted the investigation. Prime Minister Albanese said Iran tried to hide its involvement and undermine social cohesion, but the intelligence organization exposed its activity. As a result, Australia expelled the Iranian ambassador (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, August 26, 2025; Sky News Australia, August 27, 2025). The Australian government also designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as financing terrorism (Australian Department of Foreign Affairs website, November 27, 2025).
• The involvement of figures from the Shi’ite community in violent and antisemitic acts incidents was prominent. The most notable were Sayed Mousawi, a former biker gang leader accused of orchestrating the attempted arson of the Jewish restaurant in Sydney, and Muhammad Hijazi, accused of spraying antisemitic graffiti on a Jewish school, a shopping center and a house in Sydney (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 10, 2025; ABC Australia, March 11, 2025). In addition, Ahmed Farhat, a Shi’ite Hezbollah supporter, was arrested at Sydney airport while attempting to flee to Lebanon after spraying hate graffiti in Jewish neighborhoods (ABC Australia, May 9, 2025).

       
Pro-Iranian pictures at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Sydney. Right: Iranian leader Khamenei. Left: A picture of Iranian nuclear scientist Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani (Mohammad Reza Barzegaran X account, August 3, 2025)

• Iranian subversive activity on Australian soil was exposed before the attacks on the Jewish community. Heads of the security services warned that Iran was conducting harassment and threat operations in Australia targeting opposition figures from the Iranian diaspora living in the country (Department of Home Affairs website, February 14, 2023).
• Iran’s well-known ability to activate proxy actors, whether from within the Shi’ite community which ideologically supports the regime’s policy against Israel or criminal elements motivated by economic reasons, enables the regime in Tehran to promote operations on Australian soil with a “low footprint” while preserving plausible deniability. Israeli security officials revealed that prior to the Sydney attack, warnings had been conveyed to Australia regarding Iranian intentions to promote attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets in the country, even after the measures taken by the authorities against Iran.^[8]

Supporters of ISIS and the Global Jihad

• Another potential terrorist threat in Australia comes from actors associated with extremist Islamic ideologies from the school of al-Qaeda and ISIS, as reflected in the Sydney attack. According to assessments, during the peak years of ISIS activity in the Middle East (2014–2017), hundreds of young Australians of Muslim origin joined the organization’s ranks in Syria and Iraq (Program on Extremism at George Washington University, September 19, 2022).
• However, in recent years the authorities have not given top priority to the threat, and direct public engagement with it revolves mainly around the issue of repatriating to Australia women and children of Australian ISIS operatives detained in camps in Syria (ABC Australia, October 3, 2025; Financial Review, December 17, 2025).
• As evidence of the direct threat from global jihad organizations, security agencies are monitoring actors who encourage Islamic radicalization on Australian soil. The most prominent among them is Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (the Islamic Liberation Party), an antisemitic pan-Islamic organization which advocates the establishment of a global caliphate through jihad and whose activity has been outlawed in a number of countries around the globe.^[9] In November 2025, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, noted that the organization’s activity “feeds and normalizes antisemitic narratives” and claimed that “the organization’s attacks against Israel and Jews attract public attention and help it recruit supporters, but the organization deliberately refrains from an explicit call for violence” (Sky News Australia, November 9, 2025). Following the Bondi Beach attack, Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs announced an intention to reexamine the legality of the organization’s activity in the country (Australian Prime Minister’s website, December 22, 2025).
• Other well-known religious leaders also promote extremist Islamist discourse against Israel and the Jewish community:
  • Wasim Haddad is a popular Muslim preacher who pushes an extremist agenda and who was reportedly admired by one of the Bondi Beach terrorists (ABC Australia, December 16, 2025). Haddad was also sued by a Jewish organization in Australia over his statements and ordered by a federal court to remove antisemitic sermons from his Instagram account (The Guardian, June 11, 2025). He was never prosecuted on charges of incitement to terrorism, despite the fact that his activity and contribution to the religious radicalization of young Muslims were known to domestic security organizations, and some of his admirers served prison sentences for their involvement in religious incitement (ABC Australia, December 16, 2025). Only after the attack did the Canterbury–Bankstown City Council in the suburbs of Sydney announce the closure of Haddad’s al-Madina Dawah Center, after it discovered that the site had never received approval to operate as a prayer hall (Sydney Morning Herald, December 23, 2025).
  • Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun is an important figure in the United Muslims of Australia (UMA). He supported the Hamas October 7, 2023 terrorist attack and massacre, and in a speech delivered at a rally only days after the attack declared it to be “a day of courage, a day of ‘resistance’ and pride, and a day of victory.” He later spread conspiracy theories claiming that the Israeli Mossad was behind the wave of antisemitic incidents in Australia (The Australian, February 23, 2025).

^[1] Click https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en to subscribe and receive the ITIC's daily updates as well as its other publications.
^[2] For the report, see: https://www.gov.il/en/pages/delegitimization_antisemitism_australia_snapshot_2025-10_to_2025-12
^[3] For further information, see the November 2023 ITIC report, International activity against Hamas since the outbreak of Operation Iron Swords
^[4] For further information, see the November 2023 ITIC report, The International Union of Muslim Scholars issued a fatwa calling for military Muslim support for the Gaza Strip
^[5] Anti-Israel terrorism and violence
^[6] Terrorist organizations.
^[7] For further information, see the October 2025 ITIC report, Arrest of Hamas Terrorist Cells in Europe: Hamas May Carry Out Attacks Abroad
^[8] For further information, see the July 2025 ITIC report, Possible Iranian Terrorist Attacks Abroad Following the Israel-Iran War
^[9] For further information, see the December 2007 ITIC report, Demonstrations in Judea and Samaria against the Annapolis meeting are an additional indication of the strengthening of the Islamic Liberation Party.

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