Sussan Ley accuses Albanese of failing to keep Jewish Australians safe

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has allowed antisemitism to "fester" and failed to keep Jewish Australians safe in the wake of yesterday's "evil" terror attack on the shores of Bondi.

Fifteen people were killed in an attack targeting Australia's Jewish community, who were marking the first day of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach.

One of the two gunmen was also killed, while the other remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

While police and the community sift through the carnage, Jewish community leaders and the Coalition have laid some blame at the feet of the federal government.

Ms Ley said "everything must change from today".

"We have seen public landmarks turned into symbols of antisemitic hate. We have seen campuses occupied and Jewish students made to feel afraid.

"We have seen synagogues firebombed, orchestrated by foreign terrorist states."

The Coalition has demanded that the federal government endorse the plan handed to it in July by its hand-picked antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal.

Speaking on ABC Radio National, Ms Segal said Australia had not been strong enough against antisemitism and government messaging had "not been sufficient".

"Unfortunately, I have to say that I have been holding my breath, fearing that something like this would happen. Because it hasn't come without warning," Ms Segal said.

"From October 9, when we saw that hatred in a demonstration at the Sydney Opera House that was not stopped, then we saw the next icon in Sydney, the Harbour Bridge — I know people saw that as a demonstration for peace, but we saw terrorist flags and glorifying extremist leaders there at that demonstration.

"And now Bondi Beach, the third icon."

The antisemitism envoy also called on the government to fully endorse her plan, which proposes stripping funding from institutions failing to fight Jewish hate, monitoring media organisations and reviewing Australia's hate speech laws, among other suggestions.

While Mr Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stood alongside Ms Segal when she handed down that report, the government has not formally responded to its recommendations.

Ms Segal said the government had been cooperative with her office but it should now give the plan its full endorsement and accelerate its implementation.

"We are dealing here with a virus … the government has to take action because at the moment the community is terrified," she said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-president Alex Ryvchin, who was meant to speak at the Bondi event, said for now his thoughts were with the dead and their families.

"But there will be a reckoning, there will be a time in the coming days where we look at how this was allowed to happen," he told Sky News.

Mr Albanese said he had spoken with Ms Segal and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and his government would act.

"We will look at whatever is necessary, whatever comes out of this investigation," Mr Albanese said.

A meeting of National Cabinet has been convened for this afternoon.

Offer to recall parliament to pass laws

The Coalition has offered to support parliament being recalled over the summer "if laws need to be passed" in response to the Bondi attack.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonno Duniam said the government had been warned, and the massacre could have been avoided.

"Now it has, it is time for the prime minister and his government to step up where they haven't for the last two years to provide the leadership that this community has been lacking," Senator Duniam said.

"Whatever needs to happen, the Opposition will back in the government to make sure it doesn't happen again. It is unacceptable that it has come to this and leadership needs to be shown now. We can't wait another day."

Labor MP Josh Burns, who is Jewish, said while the details were still being learnt, Australians should be respectful of those killed and injured in the attack.

He said, however, the "dehumanisation" of Jewish people must be tackled.

"What we've seen over the last two years is a dehumanisation of the Jewish community and a targeting of the Jewish community that clearly has real-world consequences," he said.

"I think what's really important is that it's not only legislative responses that obviously will inevitably have to come but also cultural ones, where we are stamping out in our institutions the minimisation or targeting of Jewish people."

Mr Burns added on ABC Radio Melbourne that the government must accept that the terror attack had taken place under Mr Albanese's leadership.

"I don't think anyone should shy away from that," he said.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is also Jewish, said the government had ignored warnings.

"The director general of our national security and intelligence agency ASIO even rang the alarm bell himself warning that the dangerous rise in antisemitism was his ‘number one priority’ in terms of threats to life. Why didn’t our leaders listen and why didn’t they act?" he wrote on social media. 

"The massacre we have seen at one of our nation's most iconic landmarks is the culmination of an unprecedented failure of leadership to heed the warning signs that were so obvious to every Australian who opened their eyes."

In the weeks after the October 7 attack, the government committed $25 million to step up security at Jewish sites and a further $32.5 million after a spate of antisemitic attacks last summer, including an arson attack at the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne.

Last term, the government also passed laws banning hate symbols and the Nazi salute.

Israel links terror attack to Australian recognition of Palestine

Israel has responded with fury.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Mr Albanese had responded to rising antisemitism with "weakness".

He directly linked the attack to the Australian government's decision earlier this year to formally recognise a Palestinian state.

"On August 17, four months ago, I sent Prime Minister Albanese of Australia a letter in which I gave him warning that the Australian government's policy was promoting and encouraging antisemitism in Australia. I wrote, 'Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire,'" Mr Netanyahu said.

"Antisemitism is a cancer. It spreads when leaders stay silent. It retreats when leaders act."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar also expressed his "pain and sorrow" about the killings in a call with Foreign Minister Penny Wong overnight, and urged the government to act against "antisemitic calls".

"I said that since Oct. 7 there has been a surge in antisemitism in Australia, including violent incitement against Israel and Jews in the digital and public spheres," Mr Sa'ar wrote on social media.

"I also said that security for the Jewish community in Australia will be achieved only through a real change in the public atmosphere. Calls such as 'Globalize the Intifada,' 'From the River to the Sea Palestine Will be Free,' and 'Death to the IDF' are not legitimate, are not part of the freedom of speech, and inevitably lead to what we witnessed today.

"The Australian government must take strong action against the use of these antisemitic calls."

Asked about comments by Israel, Mr Albanese did not respond directly.

"This is a moment for national unity, this is a moment for Australians to come together. That's precisely what we'll be doing," he responded.