There is circumstantial evidence that ties Iran to the Bondi Beach attack, according to a senior Israeli intelligence official who spoke on background with Fox News Digital.
"Israel’s foreign intelligence service provided Australian authorities with concrete warnings about what the official described as Iranian-directed terror activity operating inside Australia," reports Fox. While it is believed that the terrorist group ISIS "inspired" Navid and Sajid Akram to carry out the attack, the two men traveled to the Philippines in November 2024, where they may have received "military training."
The Australians expelled the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, in August. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) concluded that the Iranian government directed at least two antisemitic arson attacks on Australian soil, targeting a Jewish restaurant and a synagogue. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described these incidents as "extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression" aimed at undermining social cohesion. It was the first time since World War II that Australia expelled an ambassador.
Australia also recalled its own ambassador from Tehran and designated the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization. It's believed that the Iranian terror networks operate under the radar in Australia with minimal recruitment. That's probably why they haven't been identified yet.
Iran was careful to publish an obligatory condemnation of the attack, "denouncing the killing of civilians and rejecting any connection between Iran and the violence," says Fox. The thing is, they denied involvement despite no one accusing them. They volunteered that they weren't involved.
The Israeli intelligence assessments align with warnings from a senior foreign diplomatic source, who described the current threat environment as being driven by a global contagion effect, in which extremist networks worldwide amplify and celebrate attacks, encouraging others to replicate them.
According to the diplomatic source, online jihadist ecosystems play a central role in accelerating this dynamic, rapidly turning incitement into action. From an operational standpoint, the source said such attacks are increasingly attractive to extremists because they are relatively simple to carry out while producing disproportionate impact.
Two sources cautioned that the threat extends beyond Jewish targets, warning that attacks against Christian communities are also plausible, particularly during overlapping Jewish and Christian holiday periods that tend to heighten extremist motivation.
The senior Israeli intelligence official said Australia is not an isolated case, describing what he said is a sharp global rise in Iranian-linked terror activity targeting Jews.
"Since the war, there is a huge rise in attempts by Iran to execute terror all over the world against Jews," the official said. "Not only Australia."
There are tantalizing hints of an Iranian connection to Bondi Beach.
“No direct link has been established yet, but there are pieces of circumstantial evidence,” a veteran Jerusalem-based Farsi broadcaster, Menashe Amir, tells the Sun.
An X account holder, Ahmad Ghadiri Abyaneh, cited Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei’s call for “spiritual defense” against Hanukkah. “Starting tomorrow,” Mr. Abyaneh wrote, “the Jewish Hanukkah celebrations will begin as a platform for holding satanic rituals by Masonic circles, the individual, familial, and social harmful effects of which will become apparent in faith-based communities,”
Mr. Abayaneh’s father, Mohammad-Hassan Ghadiri Abyaneh, was the Iranian ambassador to Canberra before the Australian foreign ministry expelled him in August, following two attacks against Jewish targets at Sydney and Melbourne. “Iran conspires with other Islamist groups to hurt Israel and Jewish communities in Australia and elsewhere,” Mr. Amir says.
Even if there's no direct link to the attack that suggests Iran was involved, Tehran's terror tentacles are spread across the globe, creating chaos and giving security services nightmares of what they may be capable of.
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Australia was caught fast asleep when they should have been wide awake.
"The Australian government and police, intelligence, and security services clearly did not prioritize having sufficient police and security on hand for an annual event, held in a public place, by Sydney’s Jewish community on the first night of Hanukkah," writes Bruce Hoffman of the Council on Foreign Relations. "This was despite a rising number of attacks on Jewish targets as well as reported threats amid what local Jewish leaders say have been increasing antisemitic incidents."
Warnings from Mossad. Warnings from Australia's Jewish community. Two terror attacks on Jewish targets. None of this spurred the Australian government into action. After all, they had their growing Muslim community to appease, and paying too much attention to the security concerns of Jews would almost be like accusing Muslims of being a threat.
Even if ISIS "inspired" the gunmen, the environment of "spiritual defense" against Jewish holidays — as promoted by figures linked to the former Iranian ambassador — creates a dangerous "contagion effect" that could easily lead to more violence against Jews in Australia.
