Jerusalem, 14 December, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Israeli authorities are investigating the deadly attack on Sydney’s jewish community amid concerns it may have been carried out by a state actor or extremist groups. Iran is the main suspect if a state is involved, though officials are also probing links to Hezbollah, Hamas, and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is connected to Al-Qaeda.
Israeli intelligence has warned that Tehran has been targeting Jewish communities abroad, reportedly smuggling weapons and using social media cells to incite violence.
At least 11 people were killed, and numerous more were injured when two terrorists began firing on a menorah-lighting celebration at Sydney’s popular Bondi Beach, attended by around 2,000 people.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cut diplomatic ties with Iran in August, accusing it of ordering arson attacks on a Melbourne synagogue and a Sydney kosher store. In November, Canberra formally designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
In September, The Press Service of Israel reported that Iranian intelligence services are systematically outsourcing terrorist attacks to international criminal organizations, using drug cartels, biker gangs, and local criminals as proxies to target Jewish communities, Israeli interests, and Iranian dissidents worldwide, including in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Germany, Greece, Australia, Sweden, and Cyprus, among other countries.
Experts told TPS-IL that the strategy reflects a deliberate shift by Tehran to maintain plausible deniability while expanding its shadow war against Israel and Jewish communities.
Israel’s Mossad intelligence service revealed new details about the Iranian regime’s global terrorist operations in October and its campaign to target Jewish communities and Israeli interests abroad. In particular, the Mossad exposed senior IRGC commanders Sardar Amar and Esmail Qaani as the primary architects behind multiple foiled attacks in Australia, Greece, and Germany.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called attack “vile” and expressed solidarity with the victims. “At these very moments, our sisters and brothers in Sydney, Australia, have been attacked by vile terrorists in a very cruel attack on Jews who went to light the first candle of Chanukah on Bondi Beach,” Herzog said.
Herzog also urged the Australian government to act against rising antisemitism, warning of “the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called the attack “murderous” and linked it to years of antisemitic incitement in Australia. “These are the results of the anti-Semitic rampage in the streets of Australia over the past two years, with the anti-Semitic and inciting calls of ‘Globalise the Intifada’ that were realized today,” Sa’ar tweeted. He added that the Australian government, “which received countless warning signs, must come to its senses.”
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