Australian police did no threat assessment before Bondi attack, inquiry hears

SYDNEY – Australian state police did not prepare a threat assessment for the event where the Bondi Beach mass shooting occurred and denied a request from the Jewish community to station officers there, an inquiry into the attack heard on May 25.

The comments came during public hearings in the inquiry, known as a Royal Commission, that focus on the events leading up to the December 2025 Bondi attack, which killed 15 people attending a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at the Sydney beach.

A New South Wales police officer said no threat assessment was prepared for the event, but agreed in hindsight that one would have been appropriate.

“I see no reason why a threat assessment could not be completed for that event,” said Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker, adding that such an exercise would have enabled security arrangements that matched the threat level.

Threat assessments are generally limited for gatherings classified as major events, including Jewish high holy days, but not Hanukkah.

The inquiry heard that state police were warned of the risks by CSG, a Jewish private security service group, before the attack.

CSG gave them its own threat assessment, warning of a heightened risk of violent or anti-Semitic incidents at Hanukkah.

This stemmed from “the anticipated visibility of identifiably Jewish individuals in public spaces and the prominence of the festival”, such as the Bondi event, the inquiry heard.

An anonymous CSG member said he requested “static” police officers at the event in view of the risk, the numbers expected to attend and the fact that it was to be held in an open air space, where CSG could not carry arms.

But the police did not believe they were required, he added.

The inquiry was also told that anti-Semitism in Australia was left unchecked after the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, which fuelled violence against Jewish people and led the spy agency to raise the national terrorism threat level to “probable” from “possible” in August 2024.

“The war in the Middle East invoked a range of emotions in Australia,” said Mr Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

“Some of those violent aspects... and those behaviours, including anti-Semitism, that in our view were left unchecked were therefore normalised and gave more permission for violence... and Jewish Australians were on the receiving end.”

From late 2024, anti-Semitism escalated from threats and intimidation to direct targeting of people, businesses and places of worship, Mr Burgess said.

Such incidents included vandalism and arson targeting homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles before the Bondi attack.

He said the agency concluded that Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind two anti-Semitic attacks on a kosher restaurant in Sydney and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue.

Iran was probably involved in more attacks, but the agency “just can’t quite get there” in its efforts to nail down responsibility, he added.

Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner Stephen Nutt said: “There was absolutely a concern that the anti-Semitism could escalate to actual terrorist acts.”

The commission’s first block of hearings in May focused on the nature and prevalence of anti-Semitism, taking testimony from members of the Jewish community. REUTERS