Jewish organization calls for action to protect community after Sydney shooting

A Hanukkah menorah stands by a floral tribute as people gather to pay their respects near the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, following Sunday's shooting in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

OTTAWA — A Jewish organization is calling on all levels of government to protect communities in Canada following a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs CEO Noah Shack said in an interview with The Canadian Press that the need for action is “urgent.”

“Thoughts and prayers can provide some comfort in the moment after a tragedy, but we need action to ensure that that same tragedy doesn’t play out here in Canada,” Shack said.

At least 15 people were killed and at least 38 were wounded in Australia over the weekend during a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach in what police said was an attack by a father and son.

Police shot the two suspected gunmen. The 50-year-old father died at the scene and his 24-year-old son is being treated at a Sydney hospital and was charged Wednesday with 59 offences, including murder and committing a terrorist act.

The Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, a component of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said in an intelligence brief on Monday it sees no indication of a specific threat in Canada following the mass shooting, but warned of the “realistic possibility” of an extremist attack on the Jewish community here.

The brief said holiday events, including Hanukkah celebrations, “will likely remain an aspirational target across the violent extremist spectrum intending to attack Western interests, select religious and ethnic communities and related emblematic sites.”

It said there is “no current information indicating a specific threat targeting 2025 holiday events, including against Hanukkah celebrations, in Canada by threat actors or transnational violent extremist groups.”

The CSIS brief notes some Canadian police forces have said they will put forward a stronger police presence in Jewish communities.

Shack said his organization is calling for existing laws to be enforced, noting that the “relentless” harassment and intimidation of Canadians in neighbourhoods, at places of worship, at schools and at daycares “has to stop.”

“Police and prosecutors have to be empowered and instructed to hold perpetrators accountable, and any structural policy or legislative impediments need to be addressed while, of course, protecting our fundamental freedoms,” Shack said.

“If the laws of the land are not being enforced, it’s going to not only undermine our safety but our confidence in the justice system.”

Shack said governments also need to prioritize community security. He said that requires further “investment and optimization” of government security grants and the deployment of police and intelligence resources.

More action to counter terrorism and radicalization is also needed “in a serious way,” Shack said.

“The unchecked glorification of terrorist organizations and actions that we’ve seen has to be curbed,” he said. “We need to find a way for their removal to be fast-tracked, for high-risk individuals linked with foreign terrorist organizations to be removed from this country more quickly, along with enhanced immigration screening to prevent them from entry in the first place.”

Jewish communities across Canada have seen an increase in violence and acts of antisemitic hate in recent years, including firebombings at synagogues in Vancouver and Montreal, the defacing of the National Holocaust Monument, and the stabbing of an Ottawa woman in the kosher section of a grocery store. In Toronto, a Jewish girls’ school was shot at three times in 2024.

This week, health officials in Winnipeg apologized after a Hannukah ceremony at the city’s largest hospital was disrupted by antisemitic slurs. Officials said an individual shouted hate speech at those gathered Monday at a menorah lighting ceremony at the city’s Health Sciences Centre.

A joint statement from executives at the hospital and Shared Health, a provincial health planning agency, said it was deeply disturbing and unacceptable.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said on social media Wednesday that he met that day with Jewish community leaders, MPs, his deputy minister and the heads of the RCMP, CSIS and the Canada Border Services Agency.

“Today’s meeting was crucial to reassure the community that this Government will always support and stand with Jewish communities across Canada,” Anandasangaree said.

Liberal MP for Mount Royal Anthony Housefather said on social media that he was part of that discussion and he asked the organizations to publicly share the work they’re doing to keep Jewish Canadians safe.

“I also made clear that to feel safe, Jewish Canadians will need to see local police enforce the law when we are targeted,” Housefather said.

Shack said there is a need for “committed vocal leadership” at all levels of government to keep Canadians safe from violence.

He added that “this is a scary time” for Jewish people in Canada and that he hopes people will realize this isn’t just an affront to the Jewish community, but an “assault on Canadian values” and a threat to everyone’s safety and security.

“For the last two years, our community has been raising the alarm, as has the Australian Jewish community, and their government failed to answer the call and now 16 people are dead,” Shack said. “Our leaders here in Canada can either learn from the devastating failures of others or repeat them.

“So the stakes are very high and the need for action is urgent.”

With files from Anja Karadeglija.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press