Father and Son, Partners in Terror
16th December 2025
The antisemitic Bondi Beach terrorist attacks have brought the global intifada to one of the farther-flung corners of the English-speaking world. Sydney is famed for its beauty, glistening with waterways—and proud of its multicultural populace. I myself am a Muslim psychiatrist here who regularly treats Jewish patients.
The beach is the one of the key symbols of our rugged Australian egalitarianism. As the sand tickles our soles, we are reminded that we all stand on an equal footing. Bondi is the pre-eminent such landmark, a snapshot of our world, full of bronzed people strutting about in board shorts and swimmers. Now it will also be remembered as a blood-soaked place of terror, hatred, and mass murder. At least fifteen people are dead, with many more in a critical condition. And the death toll is likely to grow.
The attacks by father-and-son pair Sajid and Naveed Akram seem increasingly likely to have been connected to Islamic State. Police have found ISIS flags in the perpetrators’ cars. The two men visited the Philippines for an unknown purpose, unaccompanied by any other family members, just weeks before the attacks. In 2019, Naveed was investigated by authorities under suspicion of links with a Sydney ISIS cell. While he was not deemed a threat, he has a history of ISIS adjacency.