A new book examining the Bondi Beach terrorist attack has been launched metres from where 15 people were murdered last December, bringing together survivors, grieving families, political leaders and senior media figures for an emotional reckoning with one of the darkest days in modern Australian history.
Bondi Terror: The tragedy, the courage, the aftermath, written by News 24 journalist Sharri Markson and Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin, was launched at Bondi Pavilion ahead of its formal publication on September 15.
The 384-page book reconstructs the December 14, 2025 attack minute by minute, drawing on survivor testimony, first responders, security officials and families of those killed. It also examines the years and months before the massacre, asking whether rising antisemitism, Islamist extremism and warnings about potential violence were adequately confronted.
NSW Premier Chris Minns used the launch to make one of his strongest acknowledgements yet about the failures surrounding the attack.
“We failed our Jewish brothers and sisters on December 14,” Minns told those gathered.
He said the first responsibility of government was protecting its citizens and acknowledged mistakes made before the massacre, including the decision to allow protesters to march near the Sydney Opera House shortly after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel.
Minns said political and civic leaders could not treat the Bondi attack as an isolated event disconnected from the hatred that preceded it.
The Premier described the book as asking difficult questions of governments and public institutions.
Those questions have become central to the continuing national debate over how two men were allegedly able to prepare and carry out an Islamic State-inspired attack against a Jewish Chanukah celebration at one of Australia’s most recognisable locations.
The attack began at about 6.40 pm on Sunday, December 14, 2025, when emergency services were called to Bondi Beach following reports of gunfire.
Police said two men armed with long guns were firing into crowds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea celebration.
Fifteen victims were ultimately killed, and more than 40 people were injured. One alleged attacker, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police. His son, Naveed Akram, was critically wounded and arrested. Two police officers were also shot during the response.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions says Naveed Akram now faces 78 charges arising from the attack after 19 additional offences were laid in June.
Those charges include 15 counts of murder and a terrorism offence. He has not entered a plea, and the case remains before the courts. The balance of the prosecution brief is due to be served by October 28.
Much of Bondi Terror focuses not only on the killers but on those who ran towards danger.
Recent reporting based on the book has detailed the actions of Detective Senior Constable Cesar Barraza, who rushed towards the gunfire and exchanged fire with the attackers despite having limited ammunition and no opportunity to fully equip himself.
The book also recounts the actions of civilians, police, surf lifesavers and emergency workers who attempted to stop the killing and help the wounded during the chaotic minutes that followed.
News Corp chairman Lachlan Murdoch opened the book launch and said combating antisemitism would require sustained action from governments, universities, institutions and ordinary Australians.
“At News Corp, we stand with the Jewish community,” Murdoch said.
He said the book bore witness to stories of both extraordinary courage and devastating loss and paid tribute to the victims and survivors who agreed to recount their experiences.
Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg described the challenge facing Australia in even broader terms.
“We are literally fighting for the soul of Australia,” he said.
Frydenberg argued that when antisemitism moves from the margins of society into mainstream public life, its consequences extend well beyond Jewish Australians.
He also accused authorities of failing to heed warnings before the massacre, saying people in positions of responsibility had received repeated signals about escalating hatred and extremist threats.
That question — what was known, when it was known and whether enough was done — has become one of the most contested aspects of the Bondi story.
Evidence subsequently made public showed that the Community Security Group had raised concerns with counter-terrorism police about Naveed Akram as far back as 2019.
The email identified Akram in connection with a street-preaching group and was sent shortly after authorities arrested people who later became convicted Islamic State supporters.
Documents revealed during the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion also showed Akram remained on the counter-terrorism radar in 2022 and was being managed by ASIO as a “residual risk”.
ASIO and the Australian Federal Police subsequently conducted internal reviews and concluded there had not been an intelligence failure or negligence that allowed the attack to occur.
However, former ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson, while advising the royal commission, questioned whether the original assessment of Akram had been sufficiently rigorous and whether the father and son should have been reassessed in subsequent years.
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has also said political and institutional leaders failed to fully heed repeated warnings about the deteriorating security environment and growing antisemitism before the Bondi attack, according to an interview published in connection with the book.
The formal inquiry has produced a more complicated picture.
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, headed by former High Court justice Virginia Bell, was established in January following intense calls for a national investigation.
Its terms of reference include examining the circumstances surrounding the Bondi attack, antisemitism across Australian society, extremism and radicalisation, and the effectiveness of security, border and law-enforcement responses.
In its April interim report, the commission found Australia’s existing legal and regulatory frameworks had not prevented security agencies from responding to the threat and concluded there was no need for urgent legislative change.
But it issued 14 recommendations, including stronger security arrangements for high-risk Jewish festivals, improved counter-terrorism coordination and accelerated work on nationally consistent firearms controls. Several recommendations remain classified for national-security reasons.
The interim report also scrutinised security planning for the Chanukah event.
Evidence before the inquiry indicated Sydney’s Jewish community had assessed the threat surrounding the public-facing celebration as high, while questions were raised about the comprehensiveness of the police risk assessment before the event.
The royal commission has since heard extensive evidence about policing, intelligence, radicalisation, antisemitism in universities and cultural institutions, online hatred, traditional and social media and the wider challenge of maintaining social cohesion.
Its public hearings concluded in August after 60 sitting days and testimony from hundreds of witnesses. The commission says it had received about 20,000 submissions by early September and is now preparing its final report.
That report is expected in December, around the first anniversary of the attack.
The massacre also produced immediate policy consequences.
The day after the shooting, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened National Cabinet, which committed to stronger national coordination against terrorism and antisemitism and began work on changes to the National Firearms Agreement.
Within days, NSW introduced reforms tightening gun laws, restricting certain public assemblies following declared terrorist incidents and strengthening measures against hateful symbols and extremist conduct.
Legislation passed on December 24 imposed tougher firearm limits and restrictions, with the Minns government describing them as the state’s most substantial gun reforms in a generation.
The Commonwealth also announced a special honours process to recognise civilians, police and others who displayed bravery during and after the massacre.
The book launch also placed the victims back at the centre of the story.
Among the most emotional moments came when the family of 10-year-old Matilda Britvan, the youngest person killed, joined Ryvchin to announce the creation of the Matilda Foundation.
Her father Michael said the family wanted Matilda’s memory to live through something positive.
The foundation is intended to honour the young girl through initiatives promoting kindness, happiness and community connection.
Matilda was one of 15 people killed while celebrating Chanukah. Among the dead was also an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, underlining the particular horror of an antisemitic attack directed at a religious celebration.
The launch was attended by survivors and bereaved relatives alongside figures including former prime minister John Howard, NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane, Frydenberg, Minns and Murdoch.
Survivors Elon Zizer and Hanna Abesidon took part in a discussion about what happened that evening and how the attack had changed their sense of safety in Australia.
For Markson and Ryvchin, the book is intended to serve both as a historical account and as an argument against allowing the attack to fade into collective memory.
Its central timeline stretches well beyond seven minutes of gunfire.
It reaches back through warnings about extremism and a sharp rise in antisemitism after October 7, through the attack itself, the funerals and vigils that followed, the criminal prosecution and the political response, and into the royal commission now examining whether Australia properly understood the danger developing in its midst.
There are competing views about where institutional responsibility lies, and the royal commission has not yet delivered its final conclusions.
But the fact that the book was launched at Bondi Pavilion — close to the location where Australians gathered for a Jewish festival before being attacked because of their faith — gave the event a symbolism that was difficult to escape.
Nine months after the massacre, Bondi remains simultaneously a crime scene in Australia’s recent memory, a place of mourning and a test of how the country responds to antisemitism and violent extremism.
The criminal case is unfinished. The royal commission’s work is unfinished. For many survivors and families, recovery will never have a neat ending.
Bondi Terror arrives in that unsettled period, before the first anniversary and before the final findings of the national inquiry.
Its message, echoed repeatedly at the launch, is that remembering the victims requires more than mourning what happened on December 14.
It also requires Australia to understand how it happened — and what must change to prevent it happening again.
Support our Journalism
No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.
