ICAN Statement on the Global Wave of Antisemitic Violence During Hanukkah 2025

They Told Us They Wanted to “Globalize the Intifada.” This Weekend, They Did.

The Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN) unequivocally condemns the wave of antisemitic Islamic terrorism and violence that struck Jewish communities around the world during the first days of Hanukkah 2025. These attacks were not random or unpredictable. They were the direct consequence of years of incitement that political leaders have refused to confront.

When radical activists chanted “Globalize the Intifada” on our streets, in our universities, and outside our synagogues, they meant it. This weekend, the world saw what that slogan looks like in practice from Sydney to Amsterdam to California.

Bondi Beach, Sydney: The Deadliest Attack on Jews Since October 7

On the evening of December 14, 2025, the first night of Hanukkah, two gunmen opened fire on approximately 1,000 men, women, and children gathered at Bondi Beach for “Chanukah by the Sea,” a community celebration organized by Chabad of Bondi.

Sixteen people are dead. More than forty are wounded. The victims range in age from 10 to 87 years old.

Among the murdered:

• Rabbi Eli Schlanger, 41, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and the event’s organizer, who dedicated 18 years to serving Sydney’s Jewish community
• Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who died shielding his wife, Larisa, from the gunmen’s bullets, survived the Nazi genocide only to be murdered by terrorists at a Hanukkah celebration eight decades later
• Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, secretary of the Sydney Beth Din
• Dan Elkayam, a young French citizen
• A 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old child, whose names have not yet been released

The attackers, a 50-year-old father and his 24-year-old son, both Pakistani nationals, came prepared for mass murder. They brought six firearms. They planted improvised explosive devices in their vehicle. Australian authorities have confirmed ASIO previously examined the younger suspect for ties to an ISIS cell in Sydney. An ISIS flag was found in their car.

This was not mental illness. This was not a grievance. This was jihadist terrorism targeting Jews because they are Jews.

One man’s courage prevented an even greater catastrophe. Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit seller, tackled one of the gunmen and wrestled his weapon away despite having no firearms training. He was shot twice in the process. His heroism saved countless lives, and we honor him.

But heroism should not be required to attend a Hanukkah celebration.

This is the deadliest attack on Jews outside of Israel since October 7, 2023.

It is the worst mass shooting in Australian history since Port Arthur in 1996. And it happened in a country where Jewish leaders had been sounding the alarm for two years.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry documented 3,700 anti-Jewish incidents in Australia in the two years following October 7, a rate five times higher than the pre-October 7 average. Synagogues were firebombed. The Australian government itself accused Iran of directing arson attacks on Jewish institutions. Jewish leaders from seven countries convened in Sydney just days before this attack to warn of the escalating threat.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was warned. Repeatedly. In August, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu wrote to him directly, stating that Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state was “pouring oil on the fire of antisemitism.” The warning was ignored.

Now sixteen people are dead, and Albanese speaks of “national unity.” Unity is not enough. Accountability is required.

Amsterdam: The City That Learned Nothing

On the same day that Jews were being massacred in Sydney, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw to disrupt a Hanukkah concert. Smoke bombs were thrown. Riot police deployed batons. Twenty-two people were arrested.

The concert featured Shai Abramson, chief cantor of the Israel Defense Forces. In November, the Concertgebouw had initially cancelled the performance entirely, citing the IDF’s “active involvement in controversial war” and calling Abramson a “visible representative” of the Israeli military. Only after international outcry did the venue agree to a compromise: a public concert without Abramson, and private performances with him.

This is the same Amsterdam where, just thirteen months earlier, mobs hunted Israeli soccer fans through the streets after a Maccabi Tel Aviv match. Fans were ambushed via coordinated WhatsApp attacks. Seven were hospitalized. The violence was so severe that Israeli emergency flights were dispatched to evacuate citizens.

Amsterdam’s Mayor Femke Halsema called that pogrom a “toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger about conflicts.” She rejected accusations that the city had an antisemitism problem.

One year later, Jews still cannot safely celebrate Hanukkah in Amsterdam without riot police protection.

The Concertgebouw first hosted a Hanukkah concert in December 1914. That tradition was interrupted only once beforeby the Nazi occupation. That it required riot police to continue in 2025 is a stain on the Netherlands and on Europe.

Redlands, California: “Free Palestine” Comes to the Suburbs

On December 12, 2025, attackers conducted a drive-by shooting at the home of a Jewish family in Redlands, California. The home displayed a menorah and Hanukkah decorations.

According to the homeowner, Professor Rodgir Cohen of Mira Costa College, approximately twenty rounds were fired at his residence. The attackers shouted “Free Palestine,” the N-word, and “F— the Jews” as they opened fire.

This was not a protest. This was not speech. This was attempted murder targeting a Jewish family in their home during a Jewish holiday, motivated by explicit antisemitic and anti-Israel hatred.

Police are investigating the incident as a potential hate crime.

“Free Palestine” has become the rallying cry of violent antisemitism in America. It is shouted at synagogue protests. It is chanted by those who assault visibly Jewish individuals on the street. It was yelled by the cowardly terrorist who murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., in May. And now it has come to a quiet street in Redlands, California.

When will leaders stop pretending this slogan is merely political speech and start recognizing it for what it has become: a precursor to violence?

The Common Thread: Incitement Has Consequences

These attacks did not occur in a vacuum.

For two years, we have watched as “Globalize the Intifada” became an acceptable slogan on American campuses and city streets. We have watched as protesters blocked synagogues, as Jewish students were assaulted, as maps of “Zionist institutions” were circulated online. We have watched as politicians and university administrators offered weak condemnations while taking no action to stop the escalation.

In New York, protesters chant “Death to the IDF” outside synagogues. In Los Angeles, masked activists target Jewish neighborhoods. Across the country, visibly Jewish Americans report being afraid to wear a kippah or a Star of David in public.

We were told this was just speech. We were told it was criticism of Israeli policy. We were told to be tolerant.

Now Jews are being murdered at Hanukkah celebrations.

Incitement has consequences. When you allow radicals to promote the ideology of “globalize the intifada,” then you promote the spread of violence to Jewish communities worldwide. When you demonize Israel as a uniquely evil state and its supporters as complicit in genocide, you are painting targets on the backs of Jews and allies everywhere.

The threat of radical Islamist terrorism has not disappeared. It has metastasized. The Bondi attackers had ISIS ties. The Manchester synagogue attacker on Yom Kippur was named Jihad Al Shamie. These are not coincidences. This is a global jihadist movement that has found common cause with the progressive left’s anti-Israel activism, and Jews are caught in the crossfire.

To the Jewish communities of Sydney, Amsterdam, Redlands, and Providence: You are not alone. Our community stands with you in grief and in resolve.

To those who perpetrate and incite antisemitic violence: Know that we will not cower. We will not hide our hanukkiah. We will not stop gathering. For thousands of years, tyrants and terrorists have tried to extinguish the Jewish people. They have all failed. You will fail, too.

Hanukkah is the festival of lights, a celebration of Jewish survival against those who sought our destruction. This year, we light our candles in memory of the sixteen souls murdered in Sydney, and in defiance of all those who wish us harm.

Am Yisrael Chai. The people of Israel live.