Sydney Hanukkah Terror Attack: 16 Dead at Bondi Beach

Gunmen killed at least 16 people, including a child, in a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday, December 14, with at least 42 people hospitalized. The suspects were a father, 50, and son, 24—the father was shot and killed by police at the scene, while the son is in critical but stable condition in hospital, with police no longer looking for additional suspects. Hundreds of people had gathered at the popular beach for Chanukah by the Sea, an event celebrating the start of Hanukkah, when the attack occurred. Dramatic video showed a 43-year-old fruit shop owner, Ahmed al-Ahmed, walking up behind one of the gunmen and tackling him, wrestling away his firearm and aiming it back at the shooter, with New South Wales Premier Chris Minns calling him “a genuine hero” who saved “many, many people.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the shooting a “targeted attack against Jewish Australians” and a “terrorist incident,” declaring, “an attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian.” Two active improvised explosive devices were found at the scene in a car and were rendered safe by police. Mass shootings are rare in Australia, mainly due to the country’s strict gun laws implemented after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, when a lone gunman killed 35 people, making this the first deadly mass shooting since 2022. Israeli leaders blamed the attack on rising antisemitism in Australia since the Gaza war began in October 2023, with President Isaac Herzog saying, “We have repeatedly warned the Australian government of the urgent need to uproot the criminal and spreading antisemitism in Australia.” Cities around the world, including New York City, Berlin, and London, ramped up security for Hanukkah events following the attack.

Chile Elects Far-Right President: Kast’s “Make Chile Great Again” Victory

Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast won Chile’s presidential election on Sunday, December 14, defeating communist Jeannette Jara by 57% to 40%, marking Chile’s most right-wing government since Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship ended 35 years ago. Kast, 59, who considers U.S. President Donald Trump a role model and promised to “Make Chile Great Again,” campaigned on mass deportations, building border walls, and a sweeping law-and-order agenda focused on crime and undocumented migration. Kast is the son of Michael Kast, a German Nazi Party member who emigrated to Chile in 1950, and is himself a vocal defender of Pinochet’s dictatorship that oversaw the torture, murder, and disappearance of tens of thousands. However, he carefully avoided these controversial issues during this campaign.

The result confirms a shift in the electorate toward more conservative positions, driven by social discontent, fear, and dissatisfaction with leftist President Gabriel Boric’s administration, whose approval rating hovered around just 30% for the past two years. Although violent crime has always been present in Chile, homicides spiked in 2023, and illegal migration from Venezuela increased significantly since 2018, with Kast capitalizing on these fears despite Chile ranking among the safest nations in Latin America. Jara, 51, served as labor minister under Boric and led efforts to reduce the workweek from 45 to 40 hours, campaigning on affordability and pledging to increase the minimum wage. Still, her Communist Party membership limited her appeal. Kast’s far-right Republican Party lacks a majority in Congress, meaning he’ll need to negotiate with moderate right-wing forces that could bristle at his more grandiose proposals, potentially tempering his radicalism or jeopardizing his position with voters who expect quick delivery on law-and-order promises.