Israel officially recognized on Tuesday the victims of the Sydney terror attack as victims of hostile acts motivated by antisemitism.
World Zionist Organization (WZO) Chairman Yaakov Hagoel and Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) Chairman Doron Almog certified the official state recognition on behalf of the State of Israel, during a solidarity visit with the Jewish community in Australia, nearly two months after the December 14 terrorist attack that saw 15 people killed during a Channukah event at the popular Bondi Beach.
The recognition was presented to families of the victims during a solidarity visit with the Jewish community in Australia and in the presence of President Isaac Herzog, who is currently on a state visit to Australia.
The ceremony was also attended by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Chairwoman of the Jewish Agency’s Terror Victims Fund, Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin.
“The state recognition of the victims of the Sydney attack is a clear and unequivocal statement: the State of Israel does not stand idly by when Jews are murdered solely because they are Jewish, even if it happens far beyond its borders," Hagoel said in a statement after the event.
This state recognition, he continued, "expresses deep mutual responsibility and an unwavering commitment to fight antisemitism wherever it raises its head.”
Recent government decision sets new precedent for supporting Diaspora Jews
Almog said during the ceremony that Israel has a commitment "to listen, to see, to grieve, to embrace, to help [and] to encourage" every Jewish person around the world.
"In the face of waves of antisemitism, the Jewish Agency is building a wall of mutual responsibility: a commitment to act everywhere, to turn pain into action," he added.
Israel's recognition of victims of the Sydney attack as victims of hostile acts motivated by antisemitism followed a government decision passed in May 2024 in an initiative led by Hagoel.
The decision established for the first time that the State of Israel would officially recognize Diaspora Jews who were murdered outside of Israel due to antisemitism, as part of the commemoration of the victims and as a gesture of solidarity with the Jewish Diaspora.
The commission that decides who receives recognition according to the new policy is headed by Hagoel and the Director-General of the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs, Avi Cohen-Scal. It is managed by JAFI Secretary-General Josh Schwartz and includes representatives from JAFI, WZO, the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the National Security Council.
The murderous attack in Sydney took place on December 14, 2025, when terrorists opened fire on Jews during a Channukah event at Bondi Beach. Fifteen innocent people were murdered in the attack, including children, adults, and Holocaust survivors, and dozens more were wounded — solely because they were Jewish.
The Bondi Beach attack is among the most severe antisemitic terror attacks experienced by Diaspora Jewry in recent decades, and the largest outside Israel since the attack on the Jewish community building in Argentina (AMIA).