The father-son Bondi terrorist duo were likely at the “Gas the Jews” protest in Sydney on October 9, 2023, just two days after Hamas’s attacks, according to an assessment from the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The NGO shared footage from the protest and circled the faces of whom it believes to have been Naveed Akram and Sajid Akram.
The CAA said it made this assessment with “medium confidence,” although the individuals in the video do appear to be the pair.
Bondi shooters could have attended antisemitic Australian pro-Palestine rally
“If it is true, it would represent some of the clearest evidence yet that there is a direct line between the hate marches and demonstrations and the murder of Jews,” said the CAA.
“We begged, ‘Shut these demonstrations down, legislate for it, find the legal means,’” Rabbi Nochum Schapiro from North Shore Chabad told attendees of a vigil for the victims on Tuesday, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“And those who shouted ‘Gas the Jews’ or ‘Where’s the Jews’ – what difference does it make, same vile statements – were not prosecuted, were not stopped, were not sent out of the country. [They] were allowed to continue with this vile hate. So we ask [politicians] now: Legislate.”
The pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House became infamous, not just because of the timing, two days after October 7, but because of the appearance of Hamas flags and chants of “Gas the Jews.”
Witnesses maintain that this was what was chanted; however, a New South Wales Police forensic analysis found no evidence that the phrase “gas the Jews” was chanted, claiming the chant was instead “where’s the Jews.”
Members of the Jewish community were angered by the NSW findings, claiming that ‘where’s the Jews’ is no better.
“‘Where’s the Jews,’ if that was indeed what was chanted, is in many ways far worse because it shows a desire to menace, threaten, and find Jews and no doubt do some horrible things if they were able to find them,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at the time.