Mourners gather at candlelight vigil at Bondi Beach on Dec. 21, 2025. Audrey Richardson/Getty Images
A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official has panned the federal Labor government’s actions leading up to the deadliest terrorist attack on Australian soil, which killed 15 people and injured around 40.
Leo Terrell, a civil rights attorney serving as chair of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Anti‑Semitism, called the massacre an “attack on the Jewish community worldwide.”
“I blame, in part, the Australian government in allowing this Jew hatred to fester,” he told the Saudi Arabian-owned news outlet Al Arabiya English. “They had warning signs of hate and terrorism towards the Jewish community, and what played out there was unfortunate.”
Terrell, who is also a radio and television commentator, also said symbolic gestures like recognising Palestinian statehood had real life consequences.
“Basically, they have allowed the Palestinian or the concept of Palestinian stay to exist,” he said. “This is really something that is tragic, because it gives a message that Jew hatred is ok in Australia.”
