Following the tragedy at Bondi Beach in Australia,  Corri Zoli, Ph.D., a research associate in the Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute, can provide context on terrorism and violent extremism from a national security and policy perspective. Her comments are shared below.

If you’d like to schedule an interview, please contact Vanessa Marquette, media relations specialist, at vrmarque@syr.edu.

Rise in Threats to Religious Minorities

“The news is dismal from Australia in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach terrorist mass shooting on 14 Dec. 2025—the deadliest terrorist attack in Australian history.  Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the two gunmen, Sajid and Naveed Akram, father and son, were motivated by Islamic State or ISIS.

“The terrorist duo attacked defenseless victims (the definition of terrorism) where they were most exposed and vulnerable—on the open vistas of the famous beach as over 1,000 Jewish celebrants marked the first day of Hanukkah. This eastern suburbs area is at the center of the Jewish community in Sydney. Notably, four individuals, three of whom were killed by the gunmen, tried to stop the attack before it began when they spotted the ISIS flag displayed draped across the gunmen’s vehicle, indicating their intentions.

“Governments are on notice that there is a steep rise in the terrorist targeting of religious minorities, particularly those from the Jewish faith community and Israelis worldwide, especially in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre that killed over 1,200 people in Israel.

“The Anti-Defamation League tracks antisemitic incidents worldwide and across the U.S., finding in its 2024 audit over 9,000 US incidents, an 893% increase over the last 10 years and a record high since it began keeping track in 1979.

“Scholars and analysts who study political violence, including those at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, are pointing out worrying trends: terrorist groups, like ISIS, the Houthis, and Hamas, once confined to limited geographical regions in the Mideast, are seeking to carry out attacks in the West, often using lone actors or small bonded teams, including in Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S.

“With significant pockets of Islamists making inroads into places and nations, which have generous immigration policies, governments will need to take violent extremist, jihadist and sectarian ideologies seriously, including those that use political mobilization and insurgency techniques to dehumanize religious or ethnic minorities.

“The son, Naveed Akram, for instance, was known to AU intelligence authorities since 2019 for his extremism; his association with extremist imam, Wissam Haddad, a habitual violator of Australia’s racial hatred laws at the Al Madina Dawah Centre and in support of the Street Dawah Movement; and close ties with Isaac El Matari, who claimed to be an Australian ISIS commander and is currently serving jail time for insurgency and firearms violations.”