The murder of 15 people at a Hanukkah event near Sydney’s Bondi Beach has shaken Australia to its core. For Mark Dreyfus, a Jewish lawmaker, former Australian attorney-general, and senior member of the ruling Australian Labor Party (ALP), it is not only a national tragedy but a deeply personal one.
“Absolute horror,” Dreyfus told The Jerusalem Post in an extensive interview this week. “I knew there was a Hanukkah-by-the-Sea event taking place that night. From the first moment, I feared it was directed at our community – and tragically, that proved to be the case.”
Dreyfus, who served as Australia’s attorney-general from May 2022 to May 2025 and is currently a member of parliament, described the attack as “the worst nightmare of the Australian Jewish community” and “the largest terrorist incident ever on Australian soil.” It was, he stressed, the deadliest act of violence ever directed at Jews in Australia.
According to Dreyfus, the Bondi attack did not emerge from a vacuum. Since Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel, he said, Australian Jews have faced an unprecedented rise in antisemitism, much of it tied to weekly anti-Israel protests, abuse in public spaces, and intimidation on university campuses.
“If you had asked me on October 8 or 9 whether antisemitism would surge in Australia, I would not have believed it,” he admitted. “But over the past two years, that is exactly what we have seen.”
He cited encampments at Australian universities that left Jewish students and staff feeling unsafe, antisemitic graffiti on MPs’ offices – including his own – and personal abuse hurled at him in the street because he is a Jewish parliamentarian.
“When slogans like ‘Globalize the Intifada’ are shouted,” Dreyfus said, “Australian Jews hear that as a call for violence against them. And they are right to feel that way.”
As attorney-general, Dreyfus spearheaded a series of measures aimed at combating extremism and antisemitism. These included criminalizing Nazi salutes and symbols, banning the sale of Nazi memorabilia, strengthening hate-speech laws, and outlawing doxxing.
He also helped appoint Australia’s first special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Siegel, and oversaw tens of millions of dollars in funding for security at Jewish schools, synagogues, and community institutions.
Australian authorities, he noted, have successfully arrested and charged perpetrators of antisemitic graffiti, hate speech, and even the arson of a Melbourne synagogue, an attack later found to have been organized and financed by Iran, leading Australia to expel Tehran’s ambassador.
And yet, Dreyfus was blunt: “It’s apparent now that we need to do more. Right now, people in the Jewish community do not feel safe,” he said. “That is unacceptable in Australia.”
Where does criticism of Israel end and antisemitism begin?
One of the most contentious debates in Australia since October 7 has been where criticism of Israel ends and antisemitism begins. Dreyfus said the government has consistently rejected antisemitism while trying to uphold freedom of expression, but acknowledged the line has often been crossed.
“When most Australian Jews are Zionists, attacks on ‘Zionists’ are attacks on Australian Jews,” he said. “That reality has not been sufficiently understood or respected.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Dreyfus emphasized, has publicly condemned slogans such as “from the river to the sea,” recognizing them as calls for Israel’s destruction. “But we need to be clearer still,” Dreyfus added, particularly in the wake of the Bondi murders.
Some Israeli officials and Jewish organizations have argued that Canberra’s stance on Gaza and its openness to recognizing a Palestinian state contributed to the rise in antisemitism. Dreyfus firmly rejected that claim. “I don’t understand that connection, I really don’t,” he said.
“Antisemitism is an ancient hatred. Supporting a two-state solution or discussing the conditions for recognizing a Palestinian state does not fuel antisemitism.”
Australia, he noted, remains committed to Israel’s right to live in peace and security, alongside a future Palestinian state under the right conditions – a position shared by many Israelis themselves.
Asked whether Israeli intelligence warnings, like some claim, could have prevented the Bondi attack, Dreyfus urged caution. The alleged attackers – a father and son inspired by extremist Islamist ideology – are still under investigation, with new details emerging about travel to terror-linked areas in the Philippines.