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Fifteen people from across Australia’s Jewish community were killed Sunday night when gunmen opened fire at a Chanukah anukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, turning a public religious gathering into one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks outside Israel in decades.

The shooting took place during “Chanukah by the Sea,” an event organized by the Chabad movement to mark the first night of the Jewish festival. Authorities said the attackers fired roughly 50 rounds into a crowd of about 1,000 people. At least 38 others were wounded, including two police officers.

Australian officials described the massacre as the second-deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history and the most lethal attack targeting Jews abroad since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war following the October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel.

As investigations continue, the identities of the victims — ranging from rabbis and Holocaust survivors to a young child — underscore the scale and brutality of the attack.

This article will be updated as additional information becomes available.

Edith Brutman

Edith Brutman was identified Tuesday as one of those killed. She was a prominent Jewish communal figure and served as vice president of an anti-prejudice and anti-discrimination committee affiliated with B’nai B’rith New South Wales.

B’nai B’rith described Brutman as a devoted and gracious member of the organization, noting her longstanding commitment to fighting discrimination. A colleague said she was deeply passionate about combating antisemitism and prejudice in all forms.

Australian media reported that Brutman attended the event with a friend, Tibor Weitzen, and that the two were seated together when they were fatally shot.

Boris Gurman, 69, and Sofia Gurman, 61

Boris and Sofia Gurman, a Russian-Jewish couple married for 34 years, were killed while attempting to stop one of the attackers near his vehicle, according to family statements and local media.

Video footage circulated by Australian outlets showed the couple struggling with one of the gunmen in what relatives later described as an instinctive effort to protect others.

Their family said the images of their final moments brought both heartbreak and pride, calling their actions a reflection of their character and selflessness. Boris was a retired mechanic, while Sofia worked for Australia Post. They are survived by their son.

Marika Pogany, 82

Marika Pogany, a grandmother and longtime volunteer, was named among the victims on Monday. She had deep ties to the Jewish community and maintained strong connections to her Hungarian roots.

In 2019, Pogany received the Jewish Communal Appeal’s Mensch Award after delivering more than 12,000 kosher Meals on Wheels over two decades. She was also an active member of a local bridge club, where friends remembered her as fiercely loyal and warm.

Members of a Jewish community in present-day Slovakia noted that Pogany regularly attended Holocaust memorial events. She was photographed smiling in the front row at the Chanukah celebration shortly before the attack.

Peter Meagher

Peter Meagher, a retired police officer, was killed while working as a freelance photographer at the event. A longtime volunteer with the Randwick Rugby Club, he was widely regarded as a central figure in the organization.

The club said it was devastating that Meagher survived years on the front lines of law enforcement only to be killed in retirement while pursuing a personal passion. Fellow volunteers described his death as a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Tibor Weitzen, 78

Tibor Weitzen was a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who had been a beloved member of Sydney’s Jewish and Chabad communities for decades.

According to family members, Weitzen emigrated from Israel to Australia in 1988. His granddaughter described him as someone who saw only the good in people and was deeply proud of his family.

Chabad-affiliated media reported that Weitzen was killed while attempting to shield a family friend from gunfire.

Matilda Britvan, 10

Matilda Britvan, a 10-year-old girl, was the youngest victim of the attack. She was attending the Chanukah celebration when she was fatally shot.

Britvan was a student at Harmony Russian School in Sydney, which described her as a bright and joyful child who brought light to those around her. The school said her memory would be honored through unity and compassion.

A fundraiser established by one of her teachers is raising money to support her mother.

Reuven Morrison, 62

Reuven Morrison, a grandfather and community activist, was killed after confronting one of the attackers during the shooting.

Video footage shows Morrison throwing objects and shouting at the gunman in an apparent attempt to stop the attack. He was later shot by a second assailant.

His daughter said Morrison immediately moved to protect others when the shooting began, adding that “if there was one way for him to go on this Earth, it would be fighting a terrorist.”

A year before his death, Morrison warned in a media interview about growing antisemitic threats in Australia. Originally from the former Soviet Union, he discovered his Jewish identity in Sydney and remained deeply connected to Jewish life even after relocating part-time to Melbourne.

He is survived by his wife and daughter.

Rabbi Yaakov Halevi Levitan, 39

Rabbi Yaakov Halevi Levitan was a Chabad emissary and served as secretary of the Sydney Beth Din. He also worked at the BINA Jewish education center.

Born in Johannesburg, Levitan studied in South Africa, Israel, and later the United States. He was known for his quiet professionalism and behind-the-scenes dedication to Jewish communal infrastructure.

He is survived by his wife and four children, ranging in age from six to 16.

Dan Elkayam, 27

Dan Elkayam, a French national who immigrated to Australia last year, was also among those killed.

France’s foreign minister confirmed Elkayam’s death, expressing profound sadness and solidarity with his family, the Jewish community, and the Australian public.

Elkayam, a native of Paris, moved to Sydney in December 2024 for work. His professional background was in information technology, and his social media accounts reflected a passion for travel, outdoor adventure, and sports. Chabad organizations noted that he was killed while celebrating Chanukah with fellow Jews.

He was also an active soccer player and a member of the Rockdale Ilinden Football Club, which described him as a talented and well-liked figure within the team.

Rabbi Eli Schlanger, 41

Rabbi Eli Schlanger was serving as the assistant rabbi of Chabad of Bondi at the time of his death. Born in London, he studied in France and later in New York, where he received rabbinic ordination before moving to Australia.

Schlanger was widely known for encouraging Jewish pride and resilience amid rising antisemitism. In public statements earlier this year, he urged members of the community to respond to hatred by strengthening their Jewish identity and visibility.

He is survived by his wife and five children, the youngest of whom was born just two months before the attack. Family members and colleagues described him as energetic, warm, and deeply committed to helping others.

Alex Kleytman, 87

Alex Kleytman, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor originally from Ukraine, was attending the Chanukah celebration with his wife, Larisa, when the shooting began.

According to his wife, Kleytman was killed while physically shielding her from gunfire. A retired civil engineer, he had endured the trauma of the Holocaust as a child before immigrating to Australia in search of a safer future.

Jewish social service organizations previously documented the suffering he and his family experienced during the war, noting that despite the horrors of his past, Kleytman devoted his later years to building a stable life and family in Australia.

Ongoing Investigation

Australian authorities said multiple investigative units remain involved in the probe, which is examining the attackers’ movements, motivations, and potential links to extremist networks. Officials said security protocols for large public events are under review in the wake of the massacre.

Leaders across Australia and the international Jewish community condemned the attack, calling it an act of terror aimed at civilians celebrating a religious holiday.

Memorials and vigils are being organized across Sydney and beyond as the country grapples with the scale of the loss and the devastating impact on families and the broader community.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump defended White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Tuesday following a series of explosive Vanity Fair interviews that ignited controversy inside Washington and across the media landscape, saying she was right to describe him as having an “alcoholic’s personality” — even though he does not drink — and making clear her […]

A soldier serving in the Israel Defense Forces was killed on Tuesday after being struck by gunfire at a military installation in northern Israel. He was rushed from the scene to a hospital in critical condition, where doctors later pronounced him dead.

The IDF announced that the fallen soldier’s family has been informed of the incident. A formal investigation has been opened by the Military Police Investigations Unit, and once it is completed, the findings will be transferred to the Military Prosecution for review.

Separately, the military earlier this month released the conclusions of a special professional panel that examined the death of Sergeant Yosef Chaim Zvi Serlin, a combat trainee in Unit 504 who was killed during a training exercise in March 2025.

According to the committee’s findings, Serlin was injured during a hand-to-hand combat drill that involved a “gauntlet” exercise, a practice that was not part of the unit’s standard training program. The drill required trainees to run through a confined passage while being physically assaulted by fellow soldiers, with the aim of testing defensive reactions under pressure.

The investigation concluded that the drill was conducted in violation of standing orders and safety regulations and without proper oversight. In response, the chief infantry and paratroopers officer ordered the immediate cancellation of all gauntlet-style exercises throughout the IDF.

Military Intelligence chief Major General Shlomi Binder accepted the committee’s recommendations and imposed disciplinary actions. These included a formal reprimand for the commander of Unit 504, a six-year delay in promotion for the commander of Serlin’s unit, and the removal of three additional officers from their positions.

{Matzav.com}

European officials on Tuesday moved to ease their ban on sales of cars with internal combustion engines by 2035, responding to pressure from governments and automakers who argued that the industry needed more flexibility in finding ways to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and help achieve EU climate goals. The proposal from the EU’s executive […]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says proposals being negotiated with U.S. officials for a deal to end the fighting in Russia’s nearly 4-year-old invasion of his country could be finalized within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin before possible further meetings in the U.S. next weekend. A draft peace plan discussed […]

FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday that internal communications confirm long-standing reports that agents warned against the 2022 search of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate because they believed probable cause had not been established.

According to a batch of newly declassified emails released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, FBI personnel repeatedly raised red flags with Justice Department officials in the weeks leading up to the search, arguing that the evidentiary foundation for a warrant was weak. Those concerns, the emails show, were ultimately brushed aside by prosecutors in the Biden administration.

“It’s true – we just turned over documents to Capitol Hill to be made public showing the FBI told DOJ they did not have probable cause for raiding President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago but DOJ ‘didn’t give a damn’ and did it anyway,” Patel wrote on X.

The internal correspondence spans from June 2022 until shortly before the Aug. 8, 2022 raid and includes exchanges between FBI agents and DOJ attorneys. In multiple messages, agents described the information supporting a search as thin, outdated, or unverified.

“Very little has been developed related to who might be culpable for mishandling the documents,” an FBI official serving as an assistant special agent in charge wrote in one email. The official added that claims about additional boxes of documents still being stored at Mar-a-Lago were based on a “single source,” were “not corroborated,” and might be “dated.”

Other emails show frustration within the bureau over the drafting of the warrant application. One agent objected to being asked to repeatedly revise affidavit drafts without any new evidence emerging.

“We haven’t generated any new facts, but keep being given draft after draft after draft,” the agent wrote. “Absent a witness coming forward with recent information about classified [materials] on site, at what point is it fair to table this?”

Despite those internal objections, DOJ officials concluded that the legal threshold had been met and pressed forward with a sweeping warrant authorizing searches of Trump’s residence, office, and storage areas at the Florida property.

At the same time, FBI personnel advocated for a less aggressive course. Agents suggested notifying Trump’s legal team that a warrant was being prepared and pursuing voluntary compliance, which Trump’s attorneys had already offered.

“Even as we continue down the path toward a search warrant, WFO [Washington, D.C., Field Office] believes that a reasonable conversation with the former president’s attorney … ought not to be discounted,” the official wrote, noting that the documents could be secured while classification issues were resolved.

In another internal assessment, the FBI’s Washington Field Office stated it did “not believe … that we have established probable cause for the search warrant for classified records at Mar-a-Lago,” even as DOJ leadership maintained the opposite view.

Emails also reflected concerns that executing a raid would backfire. Agents warned it could be “counterproductive” and urged consideration of “alternative, less intrusive and likelier quicker options” for retrieving any remaining records. Those proposals were rejected.

The search resulted in the seizure of thousands of documents from Trump’s first term, including materials labeled classified. Prosecutors later brought 40 federal charges accusing Trump of mishandling classified documents, all of which he denied, pleading not guilty and disputing any wrongdoing.

In July 2024, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the indictment after ruling that special counsel Jack Smith had been improperly appointed. After Trump’s re-election, the Biden Justice Department dropped its appeal of Cannon’s decision, citing longstanding DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

{Matzav.com}

Sen. Lindsey Graham declared that former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden are partially responsible for a deadly terrorist attack that targeted a Chanukah celebration in Australia, and argued that the massacre was part of a broader “religious war” with radical Islam. The remarks came a day after two gunmen opened fire at a Chanukah […]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday approved a new proclamation that widens his administration’s travel ban, extending full entry restrictions to additional countries, according to Newsmax Wires.

The White House said the directive blocks most travel to the United States by nationals of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, citing ongoing failures by those governments to satisfy U.S. security and screening requirements, Reuters reported.

Officials said the decision reflects concerns that authorities in those nations cannot consistently verify the identities or backgrounds of travelers, a vulnerability the administration says poses a risk to public safety.

The proclamation also applies full restrictions to individuals traveling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority, a measure the administration said was necessary to eliminate a weakness in the existing vetting process, Reuters said.

The latest move builds on a proclamation Trump signed on June 4 that created a layered system of travel bans and visa limitations tied directly to national security considerations, according to the Federal Register.

Under that earlier order, the administration halted most new visas for citizens of Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, based on State Department guidance summarizing the policy.

That June proclamation also introduced partial visa suspensions for Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela, applying only to certain visa categories, the State Department said.

Administration officials said the countries targeted in the June action were chosen due to factors such as high visa overstay rates, unreliable passport and civil registry systems, and limited cooperation with U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated earlier this month that further expansion was under consideration, saying during a television interview that more than 30 countries were being reviewed.

Noem said the administration’s objective was to restore “common-sense enforcement” and ensure that everyone entering the United States undergoes thorough and reliable vetting.

CBS News separately reported that Department of Homeland Security officials had completed internal security assessments and were preparing to roll out additional restrictions based on those findings.

Supporters of the travel ban argue that the policy fulfills Trump’s long-standing pledge to prioritize American safety and tighten enforcement they believe had eroded under previous administrations.

The expanded restrictions come as the administration presses ahead with a broader immigration crackdown that includes tougher border controls, increased interior enforcement, and a renewed emphasis on national sovereignty, according to multiple media reports.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security proposed new regulations that would require travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries to provide more extensive personal information, including social media history.

Officials said those proposed rules are designed to close loopholes exploited by hostile actors and prevent visa-free travel from becoming a security risk.

Immigration policy analysts outside the administration said the expanded ban substantially raises the number of people subject to U.S. entry limits, according to the American Immigration Council.

The Council on Foreign Relations noted that many of the countries facing full bans are dealing with instability or conflict, conditions U.S. officials argue make dependable screening extremely difficult.

Critics have warned that the policy could damage diplomatic relationships, but administration officials have responded that security imperatives take precedence over diplomatic concerns.

The White House has stressed that the proclamation allows for narrow exceptions and case-by-case waivers for individuals who clearly satisfy U.S. security standards, consistent with the framework established in June.

{Matzav.com}

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the Pentagon will not publicly release unedited video of a strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a boat allegedly carrying cocaine in the Caribbean. Hegseth said that members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees would have an opportunity this week to review […]

Shulem Lemmer, a resident of Toms River, performing at the White House Chanukah party this evening

TEHILLIM: HaMekubal HaTzaddik Rav Dovid Batzri, the Rosh Yeshivah of HaMekubalim “HaShalom” Yeshivah, was hospitalized in serious condition in the past day at Haddash Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. The Rav’s family members and talmidim have requested that the public tear the gates of Shamayim for his recovery. Please daven for a refuah sheleimah for […]

RESPONDING BEYOND BORDERS: Rockland Hatzoloh Paramedic Chaim Ishakis (RH-123) of the Northern District was seen assisting two patients onboard a flight to Eretz Yisroel, helping avert a potential emergency landing.

Salim Hamdani, one of the few Jews still living in Syria, was recently arrested by the regime of President Ahmad al‑Shar’a, according to a Kan News report on Tuesday morning. Hamdani owns a shop in the Old City of Damascus, and according to Syrian sources familiar with the details, the official reason for the arrest […]

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will deliver a nationwide address from the White House on Wednesday evening, scheduled for 9 p.m. EST.

The president shared the announcement in a post on Truth Social, writing:

“My Fellow Americans: I will be giving an ADDRESS TO THE NATION tomorrow night, LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, at 9 P.M. EST. I look forward to “seeing” you then. It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.”

While confirming the time and location of the speech, Trump did not indicate what subject he plans to address during the remarks.

{Matzav.com}

Candace Owens’ recent barrage of conspiracy theories and attacks targeting Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, are being driven by personal resentment and long-standing grievances stemming from her removal from Turning Point USA, according to multiple sources who spoke to the New York Post. Owens, 36, has used her platform in […]

A Jewish, pro-Israel professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was shot multiple times inside his home Monday night and died of his injuries early Tuesday, authorities announced. The victim, Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, 47, a Portuguese-born professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, was found gravely wounded at his Brookline apartment after […]

President Trump has signed a new proclamation tightening U.S. entry rules, imposing full travel bans on nationals from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria. The order expands a previous list of 12 countries and also imposes restrictions on holders of travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon lays out Israel’s goals at the UN for 2026: 1. Hamas disarmed in Gaza. 2. Iran’s terror proxies dismantled. 3. The Palestinian Authority ends payments to terrorists. 4. Syria protects its citizens.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that he has reached a dead end in his efforts to appoint a suitable state official to oversee the investigation into the disgraced Military Advocate General after it twice disqualified appointments he proposed: retired judge Kula and later retired judge Yosef Ben-Hamo. In an unusual […]