The horror of Bondi Beach could just as easily happen in Canada — because the conditions are the same: we have allowed antisemitism to grow unchecked and infect our society.
 

Jews in Canada were already living in a climate of fear, now Hanukkah celebrations will be overshadowed by terror.
 

Robert Gregory, the CEO of the Australian Jewish Association, put it plainly in a
statement
: “What happened tonight is a tragedy but entirely foreseeable.”
 

How was it foreseeable? Because Australia — just like Canada — has seen an explosion of antisemitism. In both countries, Jewish schools, businesses, and synagogues have been attacked. Pro-Hamas/anti-Israel protests are commonplace.
 

The leaders of both countries were warned that recognizing a Palestinian state would escalate Jew hatred.
 

“By effectively demonizing Israel, (Mark Carney) opened the floodgates for more antisemitic acts in Canada,”
warned
Jack Mintz in the National Post.
 

But Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Mark Carney went ahead anyway, recklessly, without adequate thought for the Jewish people, and with absolutely no regard for their safety.
 

Their sanctimonious posturing merely added to the festering hate that is staining both countries.
 

It was less than two weeks ago that Jewish leaders from the world’s seven largest diaspora communities — including Canada — convened a task force in Sydney because of the rising tide of global antisemitism.
 

The group
warned
that “the sharp spike in antisemitism seen in Australia, including foreign state-linked attacks, is part of a dangerous global pattern threatening Jewish communities and democracies worldwide.”
 

In a statement, Marina Rosenberg, the senior vice-president for international affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, said, “What is happening in Australia is not an exception; it should be a wake-up call to communities worldwide.
 

“Across North America, Europe and Latin America, Jewish communities are reporting the same pattern of unprecedented harassment, threats and incitement. When synagogues can be firebombed in Melbourne and Jews threatened and attacked in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Toronto, this is a threat not only to Jewish safety but to democratic stability itself.”
 

That warning was given only 12 days ago, but Jews in Australia — just like Canada — have been alerting governments about the dangers of rising antisemitism for over two years and nothing has been done.
 

In the ADL statement, Richard Marceau, general counsel for Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said, “Here in Canada, extremists have escalated their hatred and violence: openly glorifying Hamas ‘martyrs’ on our streets, attacking Jewish and pro-Israel students at events, harassing Jewish families outside their homes, and targeting synagogues and other Jewish institutions.
 

“For these extremists, this was never only about Israel’s actions in Gaza; it is about instilling fear and sowing division within our society. Canada must stand with its international partners in confronting this threat — not only to counter antisemitism, but to safeguard the future of our democratic way of life for all people.”  
 

Since the massacre of October 7, 2023, both countries have been swamped by Jew hatred.
 

A new report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) reveals antisemitic incidents are at record highs.
 

“Arson attacks against synagogues, preschools and other Jewish institutions, are higher than in any previous year on record,”
says
the ECAJ.
 

Here in Canada, B’nai Brith
reported
earlier this year: “Antisemitism in Canada has reached perilous, record-setting heights.”
 

How many wake-up calls do political leaders, at all levels in Canada, need before they act? Must Canada experience its own version of Bondi Beach before Carney decides that enough is enough?
 

In a
statement
on X, Carney made the usual points about being horrified and not bowing to terrorism.
 

“Horrified by the antisemitic terror attack that has stolen the lives of 11 people at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach today in Australia,” he said. “Canada stands with the people of Australia and Jewish people everywhere in sorrow, and determination never to bow to terrorism, violence, hatred and intimidation.”
 

He added, “May we all support and strengthen that resilience to protect our Jewish communities and to ensure more fundamentally that all people can thrive in every aspect of our society.”
 

If Carney truly wants to protect our Jewish communities he first needs to recognize the grip antisemitism has on this country and its scope. He must then resolve to use all means at his disposal to tackle it. Taking leadership on the issue will empower other political leaders, as well as police, to take appropriate action.
 

Tackling the evil of antisemitism first requires that political leaders don’t just ignore it — as they have been doing.
 

Meanwhile, Hanukkah is too sacred for Jews not to celebrate, despite the obvious dangers.
 

“We will not give in to terror,” said Rabbi Levi Gansburg of Toronto’s Chabad on Bayview, announcing that Chanukah celebrations will continue Sunday night. “Fear does not define us, and it will not silence Jewish life.”
 

These are dark days for Canada’s Jewish community and politicians need to act before they get darker.
 

National Post

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More than 1,000 Jewish people congregated on Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday to celebrate the first night of Chanukah, a festival of light and miracles.

What unfolded was disturbingly reminiscent of October 7. Two gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons targeting the gathering of Jews. Shouts of “Allahu Akhbar” were reportedly heard. One of the gunmen is captured

on video warning people who were not Jewish to run away

. The event was unguarded, but the nearest police station was a mere 150 metres away. Eyewitnesses say it took what seemed like an eternity for police to arrive and respond, between five and 10 minutes.

In the meantime, at last count, 12 people were murdered and dozens injured. Video circulating on social media shows beachgoers running — screaming children, the elderly, families, all ages. It was the end of a hot summer day in Sydney. The beach was jammed.

The Jews who were targeted were sitting ducks. It was like a flashback to October 7, evoking the scenes of Hamas gunmen mowing down young Nova festival party-goers who had been dancing at sunrise moments earlier.

Several hours after the Bondi attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke to the nation:

“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Chanukah which should be a day of joy. A celebration of faith. An act of evil antisemitism, terrorism, that has struck the heart of our nation. An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian. And every Australian tonight will be — like me — devastated on this attack on our way of life. There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation. Let me be clear. We will eradicate it.”

Albanese continued to address Australian Jews directly: “We stand with you. We embrace you. And we reaffirm tonight that you have every right to be proud of who you are and what you believe. You have the right to worship and study and live and work in peace and safety. And you enrich us as a nation.”

Albanese should not be at all surprised that this terror attack occurred in Sydney. Since October 7, Australia has allowed Islamists to “demonstrate” and spread their virulent Jew hatred, unimpeded. In the days following October 7, Sydney and Melbourne streets were full of demonstrations calling for Intifada, to kill the Jews, and, of course, cries of “Allahu Akhbar.”

The same conduct has been permitted — even emboldened — in Canada, by successive prime ministers and leaders at every level. Law enforcement? They mostly look away. Or, as occurs frequently in Toronto, Jewish people are told that their presence is “provocative.” At weekly “demonstrations” by Islamists and other antisemites — who make a show of parading through a heavily Jewish neighbourhood in north Toronto, taunting residents with hate — police stand by.

For two years now, Canadian Jews have been told that the demonstrators are exercising their “constitutional rights” of freedom of expression and assembly.

That is simply untrue. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not license conduct that is clearly inciting hatred and violence against anyone. And that includes Jews.

There are many laws in civil statutes and the Criminal Code of Canada that should have been invoked to shut down these hate-fests. But they are not.

Why?

On Sunday afternoon, Chabad — the same Jewish outreach organization that hosted the event at Bondi Beach — has organized a candle lighting event at a plaza in Toronto’s north end. It happens to be the same plaza where the Jew-hating “demonstrations” have been held every week for more than two years. Where, by my count, more Jewish people have been arrested “for their own safety” than have hateful demonstrators.

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw sees his role as “keeping the peace.” I disagree. His job is to serve and protect everyone, including Jews.

Across Canada, this tolerance of public violence and hatred targeting Jews has been normalized. In fact — it has been elevated — to a constitutionally protected “right.” On which planet?

Speaking with the National Post on Sunday, Beni Sabti — an Israel-based Iran expert (born and raised in that country) — reported how Iranian social media channels have been cheering the Bondi massacre as a “celebration of the murder of Jews.” Among those making such comments is a close adviser to the supreme leader of Iran.

Asked what he would say to Mark Carney, today, Sabti did not hesitate: “Stop all the ‘Free Palestine’ demonstrations. All of them. Enough with the words. You must stop the regular Sunday demonstrations (in the Toronto Jewish neighbourhood). Put police and security in the streets. Otherwise, the extremists will feel free to do as they please.”

Sabti met recently in Ottawa with several MPs and senior officials from Global Affairs Canada. He said he attempted to raise the threat of Islamists — who are supported worldwide by Iran — but the bureaucrats were uninterested. They preferred to focus on Sabti’s analysis of Iranian domestic matters.

Many Western governments — Canada included — profoundly misunderstand the Islamist mindset, Sabti says. “When demonstrations by extremists are allowed — it encourages actions like we saw today in Sydney.”

Disagreeing with Israeli government policy is one thing. Demonizing all Jewish people — in Israel or elsewhere — is quite another. In Canada, we do not tolerate such smearing with any other ethnic or religious group. Are Russians accosted? Chinese people? Iranians? Afghanis? No. But Jews? For some reason, different rules apply to their respect and safety in society.

Shortly after the Bondi Beach attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued the following statement in Hebrew:

“Three months ago, I wrote to the Prime Minister of Australia: your policies are pouring fuel on the hatred of Jews that is spreading in Australia. Antisemitism is a cancer that spreads when leaders remain silent and fail to act.

“This did not happen elsewhere — it happened in Australia. Something terrible happened there; the number of murdered keeps rising by the minute. We saw evil in its vileness, and Jewish heroism at its peak.”

These prophetic words apply equally to Canada and Mark Carney’s handling of virulent, toxic Jew hatred in the country. Like Albanese, Carney flatly refuses to concede that there is any connection between his embrace of radical Palestinian nationalism and Islamism and the chronic hatred targeting Jews in Canada. The likelihood of there being any direct exchange between Carney and Netanyahu, regrettably, is nonexistent.

Social media has been flooded with horrifying clips of the Sydney attack, but one merits special mention. As the shooters are firing their guns, an unarmed man approaches one of the terrorists, tackles him and takes his gun.

He aims it at the terrorist. He then places the gun on the ground, leaning against a tree, and raises his hands, as if in surrender. He did that so police would know that he was not a terrorist. Extraordinarily quick thinking under pressure.

Ahmed El Ahmed, a 43-year-old man, apparently Muslim, had been shot twice and wounded before police arrived at Bondi. He reportedly owns a store in Sydney and is the father of two young children. In an act of extreme bravery and heroism he risked his life and saved so many others. Had he not inserted himself into the mayhem, it is likely dozens more would have been slaughtered.

He represents the finest of humanity and our gratitude and awe are boundless.

Now: May the political and law enforcement leadership in Canada wake up and step up to ensure that Jewish Canadians are not exposed to such madness. No one and no country can consider themselves immune to this terrorism. Certainly not Canada.

• ‘An absolute massacre’: Survivor Arsen Ostrovsky describes Bondi Beach bloodbath
• Mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach during Hanukkah event leaves 12 dead, over two dozen injured

Saying “we will not give in to terror,” a Toronto rabbi says his Chabad synagogue will carry on with public Hanukkah celebrations after today’s attack on an Australian Jewish beach party that left at least 12 people dead.

“Fear does not define us, and it will not silence Jewish life. Chanukah is about light pushing back against darkness. That message feels especially urgent right now,” Rabbi Levi Gansburg of Chabad on Bayview said in a news release.

Twelve people were killed and at least 29 injured as terrorists targeted a Chanukah party on Bondi Beach in Sydney, organized by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. One shooter is believed to be among the fatalities, the second was injured.

Hanukah begins today, and events are planned all week across Canada.

In a statement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “horrified by the antisemitic terror attack” on Bondi.

“Canada stands with the people of Australia and Jewish people everywhere in sorrow, and determination never to bow to terrorism, violence, hatred and intimidation,” Carney said on the X social media platform.

“Hanukkah is a time of light amidst the darkness, and a remembrance of the resilience of the Jewish people. May we all support and strengthen that resilience to protect our Jewish communities and to ensure more fundamentally that all people can thrive in every aspect of our society.”

Horrified by the antisemitic terror attack that has stolen the lives of 11 people at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach today in Australia.

Canada stands with the people of Australia and Jewish people everywhere in sorrow, and determination never to bow to terrorism, violence,…

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) December 14, 2025

Chabad on Bayview plans events today and Monday along Bayview Avenue in Toronto, and said members of the public are invited to “attend and stand together in celebration of faith, freedom, and community.”

“This country should and must be a safe place for Jews to live openly and proudly,” Gansburg said in the release. “The Jewish community has been, and continues to be, a positive and meaningful contributor to Canadian society. Celebrating our heritage publicly is not an act of defiance, it is an expression of belonging.”

• ‘An absolute massacre’: Survivor Arsen Ostrovsky describes Bondi Beach bloodbath

Human right lawyer — and frequent National Post contributor

Arsen Ostrovsky

— was injured in today’s Australia attack that targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach and left at least 12 people killed.

He spoke to 9News Australia at the scene, his face and shirt covered in blood, his head wrapped in a bandage. This is a slightly edited transcript of that interview:

This was a bloodbath, it was an absolute massacre.

I was with my family, it was a Hanukkah celebration, there were hundreds of people. There were children, there were elderly, families enjoying themselves, children, kids at a festival, playing, and then all of a sudden it’s absolute chaos.

There’s guns, fire everywhere. People ducking, it was absolute chaos. We didn’t know what was happening, where the gunfire was coming from.

I saw blood gushing from me, I saw people hit, saw people fall to the ground. My only concern was, where are my kids, where’s my wife, where’s my family?

I survived October 7, I lived in Israel the last 13 years, we came here only two weeks ago to work with the Jewish community, to fight antisemitism, to fight this bloodthirsty, ravaging hatred. That’s why I’m here. We’ve lived through worse, we’re going to get through this and we’re going to get the bastards that did this.

(Ostrovsky, the new head of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council office in Sydney, had warned about rising antisemitism after coming across anti-Israel graffiti at Bondi Beach two weeks ago, the

Jerusalem Post

reported.)

I saw at least one gunman firing, looked like a shotgun, firing randomly in all directions. I saw children falling to the floor, I saw elderly, I saw invalids, I saw people just, it was just an absolute bloodbath. Blood gushing everywhere.

October 7, that’s the last time I saw this. I never thought I would see this in Australia, not in my lifetime. On Bondi Beach, of all places. This iconic place.

My children and my wife are safe, thank God. They’re OK. They managed to get away. But I didn’t know where they were, and there’s no greater fear, no greater horror not knowing where your family is. They’re OK. I’ll be OK.

I got hit in the head, I’m bleeding. I’ve lost blood. There are people around me that are far worse. I’ll be OK, we’ll be OK as a community and we will defeat this ravaging hatred.

https://twitter.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/2000165395164955029

• Arsen Ostrovsky: This is what ‘globalize the intifada’ looks like
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Jew Ride, a car service for the Jewish community is offering an alternative to other ridesharing companies amid reports of antisemitism in Toronto.

Founder Vadim Danilov moved to Canada with his wife and children from Israel two months before the October 7 attacks. He became a driver for Uber, during which time he heard many stories from his Jewish passengers. Some told him that they felt the need to hide their Stars of David when they got into a vehicle or avoid speaking Hebrew for their own safety.

This week, National Post reported on two more antisemitic incidents involving Toronto residents and the ridesharing company. In August, a Canadian-Israeli who was travelling with his wife in Europe said

he was refused a ride

by an Uber driver because he said he was from Israel. In February, a woman said she was kicked out of an Uber after the driver heard her speaking Hebrew to her husband.

Last month, model Miriam Mattova told the Post that she was told to get out of the vehicle by an

Uber driver because she was Jewish

in November. She was left alone on the street in the middle of the night.

“This is what made me start this company in March of this year,” Danilov told National Post. 

Jew Ride

, offers services for all passengers, but he said that 95 per cent of his clients are Jewish. “It’s to help passengers from the community and provide them with the safe, private transportation service anywhere in GTA.”

Currently, Danilov operates 24 hours a day and provides transportation all kinds, including for events, airport pickups and dropoffs, for businesses and even for pets. Danilov said he works with two other drivers from the community. Customers can book a ride online through the website.

“My passengers today say they feel safe when I pick them up and they also say … antisemitism in Canada, it’s getting worse and worse,” he said. He added that he believes the Canadian government has to get involved in order to stop the antisemitic acts that have been reported by Jewish passengers using Uber.

Former Toronto resident Leigh Elzas posted about Jew Ride on Facebook, applauding it for offering safe alternatives for the Jewish community. She lived in Toronto for her whole life but moved to the United States in July.

“One of the reasons we left was because of the antisemitism in Canada, but Toronto is especially bad,” she said.

“I wanted to help spread the good word and let people know there’s an option other than Uber, because Jews are not safe taking Lyfts, Ubers, anything, other than accepting rides from other Jews it seems these days.”

Elzas said she hasn’t used Jew Ride herself, but she said she knows someone who had an “excellent experience” with it.

“Too many Jews in Toronto have faced discrimination simply trying to get a ride,” she wrote on Facebook in August. “Some Uber drivers cancel as soon as they see a Jewish name, a person who looks Jewish, or even a mezuzah on the doorpost. It’s another harsh reality of life today for a Jew living in Canada. That’s why this service exists. I, of course, fully support it, but I hate that it has to.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term in office has borne witness to a dramatic and unprecedented escalation in tensions between the U.S. and President Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela.

The White House has deployed a naval task force towards Venezuela and destroyed over 20 boats with the purported aim of preventing the flow of narcotics to American shores.

However, many view the buildup as a pretext for regime change; Trump has repeatedly suggested that Maduro’s days in power are numbered and has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations on Venezuelan soil.

But as the Trump administration piles pressure on Venezuela, some analysts speculate that the ultimate goal of Washington’s military buildup is regime change not just in Venezuela, but in Cuba too.

“I don’t think anyone can imagine (the United States) going for regime change in Venezuela and sitting back on Cuba,” said Helen Yaffe, co-host of the podcast Cuba Analysis and professor of Latin American political economy at the University of Glasgow.

Speaking to National Post, Yaffe emphasized the likelihood of a simultaneous campaign of regime change in both Latin American nations.

According to the professor, Venezuela and Cuba are grouped together in the eyes of Washington’s foreign policy. Not only have the two been close allies since the 1998 election victory of left-wing Venezuelan revolutionary Hugo Chávez, but they are also both seen as ideological foes of the United States.

The two countries, along with Nicaragua, constitute what former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton termed the “troika of tyranny,” a triumvirate of Latin American nations with left-wing authoritarian governments. Bolton, who served in the first Trump administration, and foreign policymakers in the current U.S. administration, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, view the three countries as their principal regional adversaries.

Yaffe thinks that targeting one element of the “troika” is likely to lead to a campaign against the other members.

Not only does the White House view Venezuela and Cuba as part of the same ideological threat, but they are also seen as key chess pieces in a broader geopolitical strategy of deterring Chinese influence in the region.

The Trump administration has explicitly expressed its desire to counter China’s growing influence in Latin America, where the Asian titan is increasingly involved in massive infrastructure and mining projects.

Paul Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba (2001-2004) and former deputy head of mission to Venezuela who lectures in international relations at Boston University, emphasized the importance of China’s enduring support for Venezuela and Cuba.

China “has a big role to play in this too,” Hare told the National Post, pointing out that the Chinese “immediately came out saying Maduro won” after the 2024 Venezuelan elections, which were widely decried as fraudulent.

Hare also noted that “China would like to keep Cuba as a nuisance to the U.S.”

Indeed, there have been reports of increased Chinese-Cuban cooperation in the field of military intelligence and surveillance. Regime change in Cuba and Venezuela would undoubtedly curb Chinese influence in Latin America.

But Yaffe contends that accusations of Cuba becoming a “Chinese listening post” are being used to justify potential regime change in the Caribbean nation: “to turn any country into the bogeyman, you associate it with China.”

“The key issue… is oil,” argues Yaffe, who believes the White House’s end goal is for its corporations to control Venezuela’s oil supply.

The South American nation has the largest oil reserves in the world – some five times larger than those held by the United States. Maduro alleges that America’s claims of wanting to democratize Venezuela or prevent drug trafficking are a pretext to control his country’s petrol supplies.

Indeed, this week’s dramatic seizure of an oil tanker by U.S. forces off the Venezuelan coast shows that petroleum is undoubtedly a key piece of the equation.

But beyond the economic appeal for Washington to secure Venezuelan oil supplies, analysts say controlling petrol exports would also give the U.S. leverage over the Cuban regime.

Cuba has historically depended on Venezuelan oil, receiving up to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) since 2000 to help stabilize its economy in times of crisis, although this number has dwindled in recent years.

While Havana has made an effort to diversify its trading partners to include Mexico and Russia, approximately 60 per cent of its total fuel and crude oil imports came from Venezuela in the first 10 months of 2025.

As a result, a successful regime change operation in Venezuela risks damaging the already fragile Cuban economy, as Cuba would likely be obliged to renegotiate an oil deal with Venezuela on less favourable terms. Venezuelan oil shipments to the island could also stop altogether because of American sanctions.

Notably, the oil tanker seized on Wednesday was bound for Cuba, with Politico reporting that the Cuban state firm Cubametales intended to sell the vessel carrying Venezuelan crude oil to Asian energy brokers.

Ex-ambassador Hare told National Post that a U.S. chokehold on Venezuelan oil could oblige Cuba to rely on “the Americans and to some extent the Europeans” for economic support.

He added that, in exchange for easing economic sanctions in a post-Maduro world, the U.S. would likely pressure the Cubans to enact significant reforms, such as the expansion of “elements of the private sector,” the ousting of current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and a potential “new business deal” with the Trump administration.

As tensions mount between Trump and Maduro, Cuba has offered support to its longstanding ally, denouncing U.S. actions as “aggressive” and reportedly sending bodyguards to protect Venezuela’s president.

However, Hare said that Cuban assistance has limits and that they simply “don’t have the resources” for a “mass commitment” of troops to Venezuela.

Yaffe agreed, noting that although any armed confrontation “would bog the U.S. down in a (drawn-out) Vietnam-style” conflict, neither Cuba nor Venezuela could ultimately defeat the U.S. militarily.

Amid reports that the Cuban regime has tried to communicate with the United States about its future in the eventuality of Maduro’s removal, the Caribbean island appears to be preparing for the worst.

Latin America Reports

• Venezuela condemns ‘act of piracy’ after U.S. seizes sanctioned oil tanker off its coast
• U.S. has ‘only just begun’ striking alleged drug boats: Pete Hegseth

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.