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Bondi shooting as it happened: Carload of men travelling to Bondi arrested by heavily-armed police in Liverpool; PM says ‘hate preachers’ to be targeted in new reforms, defends action on antisemitism

Daniel Lo Surdo, Megan Gorrey, Angus Dalton and Jack Gramenz
Updated ,first published
Pinned post from 9.42pm on Dec 18, 2025
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What we know tonight

By Jack Gramenz

This is where we’ll leave today’s live coverage.

Here’s what we learnt today:

  • Seven men were dramatically arrested in Sydney’s south-west by tactical police, responding to information that “a violent act was possibly being planned”. Police have not identified any connection to the current police investigation of the Bondi terror attack.
  • Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a five-point plan to combat antisemitism, which will include a crackdown on “hate preachers” and those who promote violence, as he accepted responsibility as prime minister that more had not been done sooner.
  • Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will take on greater powers to cancel or reject visas for individuals deemed to be spreading hatred, or at risk of spreading hatred, under the proposed legislation.
  • Educator David Gonski will oversee a one-year taskforce designed to improve Holocaust and antisemitism teaching in the national education system. It will meet for the first time tomorrow.
  • Funerals for Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, 10-year-old Matilda, grandfather Tibor Weitzen, and Reuven Morrison were held today.
  • Father-of-four Adam Smyth, 50, was identified by police as another victim of the attack.
  • Surviving gunman Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 murders and committing an act of terrorism. He declined to be interviewed by police.
  • Spy agency ASIO advised NSW Police that Akram had been associating with Islamic extremists well before police granted a gun licence to his father and accomplice, Sajid Akram, 50. Sajid Akram was shot dead at the scene.
  • NSW Premier Chris Minns will recall parliament next week to consider tougher gun laws.
  • Opposition Leader Sussan Ley called on the prime minister to urgently recall federal parliament before Christmas to pass legislation to eradicate antisemitism and strengthen counterterrorism laws.
  • A multimillion-dollar funding package was announced for families, victims, Jewish community organisations and small businesses.
  • The crime scene at Bondi Beach was lifted and the area reopened to the public.
  • Fifteen people injured in the shooting remain in hospital – one of them is in a critical condition.

We will be back with more live coverage and updates on Friday morning.

Pinned post from 5.30pm on Dec 18, 2025
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What we know this evening

By Angus Dalton and Megan Gorrey

We’re continuing our rolling coverage of the Bondi Beach shooting attack that killed 15 people during a Hanukkah event in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Sunday.

Here’s what you need to know this evening:

  • Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a five-point plan to combat antisemitism, which will include a crackdown on “hate preachers” and those who promote violence, as he accepted responsibility as prime minister that more had not been done sooner.
  • Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will take on greater powers to cancel or reject visas for individuals deemed to be spreading hatred, or at risk of spreading hatred, under the proposed legislation.
  • Educator David Gonski will oversee a one-year taskforce designed to improve Holocaust and antisemitism teaching in the national education system. It will meet for the first time tomorrow.
  • Funerals for Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, 10-year-old Matilda and grandfather Tibor Weitzen were held today.
  • Father-of-four Adam Smyth, 50, was identified by police as another victim of the attack.
  • Surviving gunman Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 murders and committing an act of terrorism. He declined to be interviewed.
  • Spy agency ASIO advised NSW Police that Akram had been associating with Islamic extremists well before police granted a gun licence to his father and accomplice, Sajid Akram, 50. Sajid Akram was shot dead at the scene.
  • NSW Premier Chris Minns will recall parliament next week to consider tougher gun laws.
  • A multimillion-dollar funding package was announced for families, victims, Jewish community organisations and small businesses.
  • Sixteen people injured in the shooting remain in hospital – one of them is in a critical condition.

Latest Posts

Hanukkah menorah illuminates Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral

By Jack Gramenz

A Christmas light projection event has ended on a powerful image of a Hanukkah menorah illuminating Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral.

The illumination included the message: “May their memory be a blessing”.

The Christmas lights at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney’s CBD ended with a Hanukkah menorah projected onto the building.Wolter Peeters

Bondi hero buried in near silence

By Adam Carey

At the completion of the funeral service for Reuven Morrison, a procession of perhaps 2000 mourners walked slowly and deliberately from the chapel to his grave site, about 100 metres away.

It was led by eight women, linked arm in arm, among them his widow, Leah, and daughter, Sheina Gutnick.

The evening sun burst through a bank of clouds, raising the temperature as the pallbearers wheeled Morrison’s coffin to his grave site, where a tall mound of earth stood stacked with shovels.

Mourners gather to farewell Bondi hero Reuven Morrison.Simon Schluter

Once the coffin was lowered, mourners took turns to heap a shovelful of soil into his grave in a final mark of respect.

No known link between arrests and Bondi terror investigation: police

By Angus Dalton

Police have said there is no known connection between the dramatic arrest of a group of men in Sydney’s south-west and the police investigation of the Bondi terror attack.

The heavily armed tactical operations unit intercepted two cars in Liverpool and arrested a group of men reportedly on their way to Bondi.

“Tactical Operations police responded to information received that a violent act was possibly being planned,” NSW Police said in a statement.

“Police subsequently intercepted two cars as part of the investigation.

“As investigations continue, seven men are assisting police with their inquiries.

“At this point in time, police have not identified any connection to the current police investigation of the Bondi terror attack.”

The men lined up after their arrest.Instagram
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No ongoing risk to the public after men detained, zip-tied

By Jack Gramenz and Perry Duffin

At least five men have been pulled from a crashed car after a collision with heavily armed police, part of an operation involving multiple arrests in Sydney’s south-west.

The group of men were travelling to Bondi Beach for unknown reasons, sources said.

NSW Police said there was no ongoing risk to the public.

Sources with knowledge of the unfolding operation, not permitted to speak publicly, said a weapon may have been found in the car, though that was unconfirmed.

The white hatchback was stopped at the intersection of George and Campbell streets, Liverpool.Instagram

Carload of men travelling to Bondi arrested by heavily armed police

By Perry Duffin

A carload of men from Victoria has been stopped by the most heavily armed NSW Police unit while travelling to Bondi Beach, potentially armed, for unknown reasons, sources say.

The men were driving a white hatchback with Victorian plates, through the western Sydney suburb of Liverpool when they were rammed by the tactical operations unit.

Unit members, in camouflage and with heavy weapons drawn, pulled the men onto the footpath and handcuffed them with zipties. Some of the men appeared injured and bleeding.

A number of men were stopped by police in Liverpool. They were reportedly driving towards Bondi.SMH

Sources with knowledge of the unfolding operation, not permitted to speak publicly, said a weapon may have been found in the car, though that was unconfirmed.

Family remember an adventurer-at-heart just beginning his future

By Jack Gramenz and Angus Dalton

French national Dan Elkayam has been remembered as a gentle, kind, fun person who was an explorer at heart and a star soccer player.

The IT analyst for NBC Universal grew up in Le Bourget, a suburb of Paris, and had been living in Australia for several years.

“He was murdered because he was Jewish,” his family said in a statement today.

“He was beginning to build his future in Australia, a country he loved,” they wrote.

Daniel Elkayam “loved life – fully and intensely” his family said.
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Shooter’s family in India had no knowledge of his ‘radical mindset’

By Lisa Visentin and Saurabh Yadav

In the Indian city of Hyderabad, local and international media have descended on a multi-storey yellow cottage owned by the family of Bondi gunmen Sajid and Naveed Akram in the middle-class neighbourhood of Tolichowki.

The occupants are nowhere to be seen.

Along the quiet cul-de-sac, neighbours are reluctant to be drawn into an international news event of such horror.

The Akram family home in Hyderabad, India. Relatives of Bondi shooter Sajid Akram have told local Indian police they had little association with him since he left Hyderabad in 1998.Saurabh Yadav

Next-door neighbour Zulekha, who wished to be known only by her first name, said she had barely seen anyone outside the Akram home in the five years she had lived on the street.

Tributes for devout man and hero who was full of fun

By Adam Carey

In a funeral hall that is almost overflowing, mourners have heard an adoring tribute for Reuven Morrison, a devoutly religious man who had a keen sense of fun.

“The last few days have been like hell in Bondi,” Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, a close friend of Morrison’s, told the audience at Lyndhurst Cemetery in Melbourne.

“I know with all the seriousness here, Reuven would want to put a bit of an edge on the seriousness.”

Mourners gathered at the funeral of Reuven Morrison in Melbourne on Thursday evening.Simon Schluter

Gutnick spoke of a sauna with a cold plunge pool that Morrison would take him to.

Beautiful mother, steadfast friend: Marika Pogany remembered

By Jack Gramenz and Angus Dalton

In a new statement released today, Marika Pogany, one of those killed in Sunday’s attack, was remembered as a beautiful mother, grandmother and steadfast friend.

Marika Pogany was remembered as a beautiful mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and steadfast friend.

She came to Australia in 1968 from Czechoslovakia with her son, Romy, and brother Ivan, becoming a citizen in 1972.

“She embraced her life as an Aussie from that point on. She was very proud of her country,” her family said in a statement released by police.

“She brought joy and energy into every room and found her greatest happiness surrounded by her adoring family.”

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