‘Israeli actions, not Iran, fuel anti-Semitism’: Netizens react to Jewish holiday attack in Sydney

After a deadly shooting at a Jewish holiday event in Australia, social media users blamed Israel’s actions for rising “anti-Semitism,” dismissing the regime's attempts to pin the attack on Iran, even as authorities linked the gunmen to the Daesh terrorist group.

At least 15 people were killed, and dozens were injured when two gunmen, a father and son, opened fire at a Jewish event in Sydney on Sunday.

One suspected attacker was killed at the crime scene, while another is in critical condition.

Iran condemned the “violent” attack, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei saying, “Terror violence and mass killing shall be condemned, wherever they're committed, as unlawful and criminal.”

Reacting to the shooting incident, Canadian journalist Aaron Maté wrote on X that the attack was fueled by anger over Israel's atrocities and the impunity it receives.

“Fifteen civilians were killed in the massacre targeting Sydney's Jewish community. A day in which Israel massacres 15 Palestinian civilians in Gaza would be at the low end of the average in 2+ years of genocide.”

“Israel's atrocities and the impunity they receive are undoubtedly the number one driver of anti-Semitism worldwide,” he added.

Maté noted that Israel is exploiting the incident to justify its crimes against Palestinians and calls for more crackdown on anti-genocide protests.

“To show how little Israel and its apologists care about anti-Semitism, many are exploiting the Sydney massacre to justify Israel's rejection of a Palestinian state; baselessly blame Iran; and demand more censorship of anti-genocide protests.”

His remarks came as Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein called Baghaei’s post on X, “deceptive.”

During the shooting, a Muslim bystander intervened, disarming one of the Bondi Beach attackers and potentially saving lives.

Australian media have identified the man as Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old Sydney resident and father of two, who owns a fruit shop in Sutherland.

Former member of British Parliament George Galloway praised al-Ahmed as a “hero”, calling on the British monarch, the ceremonial head of state in Australia, to award him “the George Cross.”

Galloway slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to link Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state to Sunday’s attack, saying Israel continues to kill Palestinians in Gaza in cold blood as the world looks on.

“If it had happened on Gaza beach, rather than Bondi, you wouldn't even know about it. Netanyahu blames Australia for recognizing Palestine. He's itching for a war with Iran. And it looks like it's starting in Venezuela,” referring to the United States's intensified military posture in the Caribbean.

American Jewish journalist Max Blumenthal also slammed the Zionists’ exploitation of the attack to “focus their wrath on [New York City Muslim mayor] Zohran Mamdani, on Palestine solidarity activism, on Iran – on any force that threatens Israeli apartheid – rather than on the actual killers, who appear to be ISIS [Daesh] sympathizers granted firearms licenses despite have been under Australian state security monitoring for at least six years.”

He noted that Zionists don't care about the safety of Jews and are more interested in advancing Israel's policies.

“Antisemitism is the fuel for Zionism and the ultimate justification for an ethnosupremacist ‘Jewish state’. With their naked exploitation of the Bondi shooting, they demonstrate once again that they are more interested in advancing Israel's genocidal imperatives than in protecting Jews.”

Israeli political analyst Ori Goldberg asserted in a post that Israel is using Australian Jews for “nefarious purposes.”

He referred to Israeli media reports that linked the Sydney attackers to a Daesh cell and to the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah and Iran at the same time.

“Israeli media (one channel!) reports the following: ‘the Sydney shooters had links to an ISIS [Daesh] cell! The attack had some elements linked Hezbollah! Iran was behind the whole thing!’ These are panicked lies.”

Australian authorities believe that the gunmen had pledged allegiance to the Daesh terrorist group, noting that one of them, the 24-year-old Naveed Akram, was examined six years ago over his close ties to a Sydney-based Daesh terrorism cell.

In a post on X, Matthew Ghobrial Cockerill, scholar of history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, decried the speculations as “dishonest” and “moronic”  that link the attack to Palestinian nationalism, the secular anti-Zionist ideology, or Iran.

“The attack was motivated by a heterodox-extremist Sunni Muslim group - ISIS [Daesh] - which condemns all nationalism (including Palestinian) as heretical and condemns even Hamas as fake Muslims, worthy of execution. It also condemns all Shias as apostates and worthy of death, which makes nonsense of the purported connection with Iran,” he elaborated.

Referring to an Australian media report accusing Tehran of being involved in the attack, Law professor and legal historian Nina Farnia said, “Australia appears to be passing blame for ‘Australian’ racism and anti-semitism on Iran, a country thousands of miles away that is itself under the harsh boot of western racism and imperialism.”

Meanwhile, Kashmiri-origin media producer Sarbaz Roohulla Rezvi hailed the Islamic Republic for issuing a statement in condemnation of the incident.

“During 12 days of Israel-US aggression against Iran that killed +1200 innocent Iranian citizens, not a single condemnation was issued by any Australian authority. Australia should learn humanity from Iran.”

Noting that Daesh has been “actively cultivated” by Western security services for decades, British political activist Carlos Martinez stressed that “this heinous attack lies primarily with the US, Britain and France.”

Australia has seen widespread outrage over Israel’s two-year genocide against the Palestinian people, with major protests in cities across the country since October 2023.

Demonstrators have voiced anger over civilian casualties, destruction of homes, and the regime’s ongoing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Social media and local reports indicate that public sentiment has increasingly reflected outrage over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with protesters demanding that the Australian government condemn the Israeli regime’s genocide and halt arms sales to Tel Aviv.

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