New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns has addressed public scrutiny regarding the police response to an attack that occurred at a Jewish festival in Bondi Beach.
The incident resulted in 15 fatalities and numerous injuries during a Hanukkah celebration. Two gunmen were involved in the assault.
Premier Minns defended the officers involved, stating that they acted with bravery and integrity. He noted that two officers sustained critical injuries, having been shot while confronting the attackers. Minns rejected suggestions of police inaction, asserting that officers engaged gunmen armed with long-range rifles using handguns.
Witness accounts, including one from Shmulik Scuri, suggested perceived delays in police disarming the gunmen. Minns characterized such immediate conclusions about the police operation as disrespectful.
Questions have also been raised concerning the adequacy of security provisions prior to the event. NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon refrained from disclosing the specific number of officers deployed in advance. Lanyon stated that the area is regularly patrolled and that police presence is determined by existing threat assessments.
Australia's security agency had identified one of the alleged gunmen, Naveed Akram, in 2019 due to his associations; however, no indication of a risk of violence was present at that time. Commissioner Lanyon indicated that a different policing response might have been implemented had specific intelligence regarding a threat to the event been available.
Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, NSW Police initiated Operation Shelter to investigate antisemitic hate crimes, with regular patrols in high-risk locations like Bondi, which has a significant Jewish population. Additionally, Strike Force Pearl was established to investigate hate crimes across Sydney.