Summary
A widely celebrated act of bravery during a violent incident in Sydney became a unifying national story, but closer examination suggests the outcome was more complicated than initially portrayed.
The disarming of an attacker did not stop the violence, and key details were largely omitted from public coverage.
The episode unfolded amid rising antisemitic incidents, concerns about security preparedness, and questions about possible external extremist connections.
The situation highlights tensions between narrative-driven responses and factual accountability, raising broader concerns about public safety, media framing, and the need for serious scrutiny rather than symbolic gestures.
This article was originally published in Israel Hayom on December 18, 2025.
At Bondi Beach in Sydney, it seemed as though Australia had its redemption scene: Ahmad Al-Ahmad leapt at an older attacker named Sajjad Akram, seized his weapon, saved many lives, and overnight became a national hero.
Too Perfect a Hero
Social media exploded, the press praised him, and a crowd-funding campaign raised more than one million Canadian dollars. Even criticism of the Muslim community in Sydney eased somewhat. Australia embraced a simple, clean, comforting story.
Ahmad al-Ahmad, a Syrian immigrant and neighborhood fruit-stand owner, is shown in images and videos grabbing the firearm from the attacker. However, a closer look at multiple videos from every angle tells a more complex and troubling picture. Yes – Al-Ahmad acted courageously and did seize the weapon. But, instead of firing at the attacker and neutralizing him, he let him retreat safely. In fact, he propped the rifle against a tree, apparently concerned he would be suspected himself of being an attacker. The assailant retreated unhurt, joined by his son on a nearby bridge, who then took another weapon and continued the shooting. By this metric, Al-Ahmad’s move failed entirely. That does not negate his bravery; but it does raise serious questions about outcome, responsibility, and omission.
When Narrative Matters More Than Facts
Why raise this? Because this fact – the disarming of the weapon without neutralizing the shooter and the continuation of the massacre – was almost entirely omitted from the coverage. The media preferred to lionize the fact that the hero was a Muslim. The narrative seized the space, and once again the finger was pointed at “Islamophobes” and foreign haters. Reality, however, is entirely different. The move did not contribute meaningfully – and it raises sharp questions.
A Larger Context of Rising Antisemitism
According to published data, Australia currently leads the Western world in antisemitic incidents – about 6.4 incidents per 100,000 residents – more than in Britain and more than in the United States. Authorities have even intentionally downplayed antisemitic incidents, claiming they cannot be tied directly to antisemitism.
Sydney’s Jewish community, now numbering about 45,000 people, is in a post-traumatic condition. In Australia, some of the largest pro-Palestinian protests in the world have taken place, where images of Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah were displayed, and many wore green Hamas scarves nearly without governmental response.
Australia has become a breeding ground for tolerance, acceptance, and at times deliberate blind eye–turning. In the case of the attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, although no concrete intelligence warnings were received ahead of the incident, the level of security was disgraceful, and the few police officers present reportedly acted out of fear, according to eyewitness accounts.
Many Questions and Unanswered Doubts
One central question remains unresolved: was there an external hand behind the incident, or was it merely a local operation carried out by a father and son steeped in jihadist ideology? At this point, surprising details emerge. It turns out that the father and son traveled to the Philippines in early November and stayed for nearly a month on the Muslim island of Mindanao.
Hotel staff testified to unusual behavior: large suitcases, brief outings from the hotel, and nearly three weeks of seemingly pointless self-isolation. It bears recalling that Mindanao was previously controlled by the jihadist organization Abu Sayyaf, which was officially declared dismantled in March 2024 – yet even authorities themselves admit that remnants of the group still exist.
In the past, the Iranians maintained close ties with the organization, and in the early 2000s the Mossad succeeded in thwarting a massive attack – perhaps the largest ever – the product of Iranian–Hezbollah–Abu Sayyaf cooperation. The plan involved the simultaneous sinking of three cruise ships carrying thousands of tourists in Singapore, along with bombings of Israeli and American embassies in Southeast Asia.
It is interesting to note that the modus operandi at the time was strikingly similar to what we are seeing now: arrival on an island, an extended stay at a hotel, acquisition of means, and departure for the target. This does not necessarily constitute proof of a similar Iranian connection today, but there are certainly indications that demand a thorough and serious examination.
I assume that Australia’s security service, ASIO, will cooperate with the Mossad in unraveling the attack. ASIO is a professional service – but a limited one. This is due to extensive privacy-rights regulations, regulations that have significantly curtailed its ability to monitor and act against organized networks.
Australia and Western Europe Have Been Left Behind
One must look honestly at reality in the realm of humanism: Australia and Western Europe have been left behind. Instead of completing a genuine intellectual revolution, they replaced the religious dogmatism of the Middle Ages with an ongoing subjectivism, in which truth is a matter of personal perception rather than facts. From this version of “truth,” many disasters have emerged in the West – and Jews have always been their first victims.
It is possible that this horrific attack will serve as the necessary seismic shock for Australia – and, one hopes, for the Western world as a whole. Courage, in the end, is indeed a virtue. But truth, accountability, and the most fundamental question of all – who benefits from the narrative – are indispensable foundations of genuine security.
Ceremonies are taking place across Australia. Yet what is truly required is not ritual, but reckoning: to salvage the remaining points of light from outdated frameworks and use them to undertake a real process of repair, rather than merely gesturing amid the wreckage.
