Means telling the truth about antisemitism, terrorism, and what "globalize the intifada" really means.
The specter of extremist terrorism raised its ugly head on Sunday.
Two terrorists, radicalized by the Islamic State, went to Bondi Beach with the intention of targeting Jewish people celebrated Hanukkah. Well-armed despite Australia’s strict gun laws, the two killers executed innocents in cold blood, including two rabbis, a young child, and a Holocaust survivor.
The also killed a couple of bystanders who attempted to intervene.
As mothers shielded babies with their own bodies, children screamed, and hundreds of people fled in terror for their lives, Bondi Beach became bloody Bondi Beach, on a bloody Sunday, the latest in a long march of terrorism and antisemitism that has been growing in intensity since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
One of the attackers is now dead, the other has been arrested. But the healing has yet to begin.
Since Sunday, mourners from around the world have flooded the spot where 15 people were murdered. Memorials, flowers, cards, flags, candles, and letters pay tribute to the victims, conveying some small sense of the terrible pain and loss caused by this senseless, violent tragedy.
The spontaneous outpouring of grief is a balm for spirits shattered by the worst humanity has to offer.
Media coverage of the event is another matter altogether.
“Islamic State flags found in suspect’s car after shooting that killed 15,” reported Matt Nighswander for NBC News on December 15, 2025.
And yet, as in so many headlines like these, the undercurrent of narrative cuts against the grain of truth.
Reading just past the misleading headline, under the heading of “What We Know”:
“Officials declared the shooting a terrorist attack and said it was ‘designed to target’ Jewish people. Victims included a Holocaust survivor, a 10-year old and two rabbis. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the gunmen were inspired by ‘Islamic State ideology.’”
If officials have declared it a “terrorist attack”, why refer to the incident in the headline as a “shooting”? If the PM has admitted the terrorists were inspired by Islamic State ideology, again, why refer to the attack as a shooting?
Elsewhere, more bias — implicit and otherwise — has been on display in the press. Some have been willing to call it out.
“My Murdered Friend Eli,” lamented Zalman Rothschild in the left-leaning media outlet, The Atlantic. “He was killed doing the work he’d dreamed of.”
“As Jews gather this week to light candles, they are sure to rehearse familiar debates,” began Rothschild. “Some will argue that Israel’s actions have provoked recent surges in anti-Semitism, tacitly collapsing Zionism, Israel, and Jewishness into a single moral object — so that Jews everywhere are made to answer for the conduct of a state. When I visited Istanbul last year, I spent hours speaking with a local café owner who insisted that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, yet in the same breath told me not to be surprised by the rise in anti-Semitism given Israel’s actions in Gaza. Some Jews make the same mistake.”
“Meanwhile, others will respond by insisting that this violence only proves that the world has always hated Jews, and always will,” Rothschild continued. “They will argue that Jews can be safe only in Israel, and that Jewish life in the diaspora is naive and doomed.”
“The Massacre at Bondi Beach Was Inevitable,” declared Douglas Murray for City Journal on December 16, 2025. “Australia has long tolerated the proponents of such mayhem and silenced those who raise the alarm.”
Mr. Douglas writes that although the “Australian authorities are among the toughest in the world when it comes to policing speech” they haven’t treated antisemitic speech the same way, even when it implicitly threatens violence.
“Do words have any meaning? Most people think so, which is why there is an endless debate about which words should be permitted by law, which should be a matter for the law, and which words should be debated in the realm of manners,” Murray began. “Where does ‘Gas the Jews’ fit into that?”
“That’s what happened outside the Sydney opera house on October 9, 2023 — two days after Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel, slaughtered 1,200 people, and took another 250 hostage,” Murray wrote. “The people in the mob outside the opera house that night were not objecting to the war that resulted from that massacre. They were not trying out some new comedy material. They were using the massacre of Jews as the impetus to stand in their own city, oceans away, and advocate for the gassing of Jews.”
“Of course, the Australian authorities did not take any meaningful action regarding that protest,” Murray complained. “No more than they chose to take action against the numberless protests in major Australian cities since October 2023 in which protesters have chanted ‘Globalize the Intifada’ and much more.”
“Globalize the intifada” is a thinly veiled cry for global terrorism. Bondi Beach was “Globalize the intifada” in action.
How much more antisemitism will civilized societies tolerate? It is inspiring the worst humanity has to offer.
On Sunday, it stole a shining example of the best humanity has to offer.
The funeral of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who tragically lost his life in the Bondi Beach attack, was a moving tribute to a dedicated religious leader and cherished father who loved his people, his faith, his family, and his community more than anything.
“Ladies and gentleman,” Rabbi Schlanger began in a social media video he made in September 2025 at the beginning of the Hebrew New Year. “May you be inscribed and sealed for a year full of joy and happiness, prosperity, nachas from our children and just happiness all around. I know it’s going to be one of those good years, and we just have to usher it in.”
“Here’s the best response to combat antisemitism,” singsongs a voice-over before the Rabbi can be seen in another video attaching a lighted menorah to the top of his car.
“Just a little bit of light takes away the dark,” sings a voice as Rabbi Schlanger lights the Menorah. “Just a little bit of light, even just a spark. Just a little bit of light takes a away the dark. Shine your light on me.”
“Just a little bit of dancing in the light,” the voice sings on as the Rabbi does just that, dancing around his car with the shining Menorah on top, Kippah worn proudly. “Just a little bit of dancing feels so right. Just a little bit of dancing in the light. Shine your light on me.”
“Just a little bit of music for my soul,” the voice sings as the Rabbi smiles in the video. “Just a little bit of music makes me feel whole. Just a little bit of music for my soul. Shine your light on me.”
Bondi Beach will heal, but only if the truth is spoken plainly. Terrorism does not disappear when it is rebranded as a “shooting.” Antisemitism does not become less lethal when it hides behind slogans, euphemisms, or moral evasions. Words matter because they shape what societies are willing to see — and what they are willing to tolerate.
Rabbi Eli Schlanger understood that. He didn’t answer hatred with abstraction or denial. He answered it with presence, with joy, with faith worn openly and without apology. He answered it with light.
We must do no less.
(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)