Mourners grieve 10-year-old slain in Bondi mass shooting as Australia’s leader pledges new hate laws : NPR

SYDNEY – Hundreds of mourners carrying colorful bouquets and mourners hugging each other gathered in Sydney on Thursday for the funeral of a 10-year-old girl shot dead in an anti-Semitic massacre during Hanukkah celebrations on Bondi Beach.

Matilda, whose last name is being withheld at the request of her family, was enjoying a petting zoo at a holiday on Sunday just before she was killed along with 14 others in a mass shooting of Jews. The suspects, a father and son, were inspired by the Islamic State group, Australian authorities said.

Matilda's beaming photographs have become the focal point of Australia's grief over one of the worst hate attacks ever carried out in the country. The massacre raised national concerns about anti-Semitism and questions about whether the country's leaders took the threat to Australian Jews seriously enough.

Matilda's parents, who came to Australia from Ukraine, “left war-torn Eastern Europe to come here for a good life,” Rabbi Dovid Slavin told The Associated Press upon entering the service.

“They did what parents can do and took their child to a family event at Bondi Beach,” he added. “If it ended this way, it would be the collective responsibility of every adult in this country.”

Albanese promises new hate laws

Speaking to reporters in the Australian capital Canberra at the same time Matilda's service began, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled a package of legislative plans he said would help curb radicalization and hatred.

Among his proposals were measures to expand the definition of hate crimes for preachers and leaders who promote violence, to increase penalties for such crimes, to define some hate groups and to allow judges to consider hate as an aggravating factor in cases of online threats and harassment.

Officials will have more power to deny or revoke visas “to those who sow hatred and discord in this country, or would do so if they were allowed to come here,” Albanese added. He did not give a time frame for the reforms, citing their legal complexity.

“There are organizations that any Australian will look at and say that their behaviour, their philosophy and what they are trying to do is divisive and has no place in Australia,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters.

“And yet, for a generation, no government has been able to successfully take action against them because they fell just below the legal threshold.”

The announcement follows Albanese's pledge to tighten gun controls in Australia, already among the toughest in the world. State leaders also promised more gun initiatives and stricter rules on protest gatherings.

However, the fact that Albanese has so far not attended the victims' funerals (local media reports that he was not invited despite the presence of other political leaders) hints at the rage of some Australian Jews towards the leader.

Albanese said measures his government has already taken, including a ban on Nazi salutes in February, show it takes the threat of anti-Semitism seriously.

“I certainly recognize that more could have been done and accept responsibility for that involvement as Prime Minister of Australia,” Albanese said on Thursday. “But what I also do is accept the responsibility of leading the nation and uniting the nation.”

Investigation begins into shooting suspects

Meanwhile, investigators continued to look into the suspected gunmen's ties to Australia and their travel to the Philippines before the attack, said Chrissie Barrett, the country's police chief. Authorities previously said the younger suspect in the shooting, 24-year-old Naveed Akram, was under investigation by Australian security services for six months in 2019.

The lead shooter, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, who was shot dead on Sunday, had legally collected the weapons used in the massacre. His gun license was issued in 2023 after his son came to the attention of authorities.

Philippine national security adviser Eduardo Año told The Associated Press on Thursday there was no indication the two had received any training to attack the Philippines. He said the suspected militants stayed at a low-cost hotel in downtown Davao City throughout their visit in November.

Año, a former military chief of staff, said in a statement that “the length of their stay would not have allowed for any meaningful or structured training.”

Naveed Akram is being treated in a Sydney hospital and was charged on Wednesday with 59 offenses, including murder and committing an act of terrorism. He has not entered a plea, and the judge is withholding many details of the case against him.

On Thursday, health authorities said a further 16 people were being treated in Sydney hospitals. Two of them are in critical condition, the condition of one worsened to critical this morning.

Mourners attend funeral after funeral

As the investigation unfolded, Sydney's close-knit Jewish community turned out for funeral after funeral. In addition to Thursday's service for the youngest of those killed, Matilda, mourners attended the funeral of the oldest, 87-year-old Alex Kleitman.

A Holocaust survivor was defending his wife when he was shot, she told reporters outside the hospital this week. Others killed included rabbis, a man who was shot throwing bricks at one of the gunmen, and a couple who were killed as they tried to grab one gunman as he got out of his car to launch an attack.

At Matilda's funeral, the rabbi read from teachers at the 10-year-old girl's school who called her “our little ray of sunshine.”

Matilda, who was delighted to win a national literacy award two days before her death, “had an incredible gift for bringing joy to those around her”, her school said in a tribute.

Grief overwhelmed me when the coffin was taken out of the hall. Around the mourners, bumblebee balloons swayed in the afternoon breeze, a reference to her family nickname Matilda Bee.

Mourners and reporters were given stickers featuring a smiling cartoon bumblebee holding a menorah. Above the image was printed Matilda's name in purple, her favorite color.

“I don’t want to seem selfish,” Slavin said. “But I and many others think it could have been my child.”