Bondi Beach attack survivor tells Royal Commission of ‘trauma’ of online AI images

A Jewish lawyer and activist wounded in last year’s antisemitic terror shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach discovered that AI-generated images depicting him as a “crisis actor” were proliferating online as he was going into surgery, he tells a royal commission inquiry.

Arsen Ostrovsky, a Jewish community leader, says a selfie image he had sent to a friend in the aftermath of the antisemitic attack was quickly distorted by AI online to make it appear as if his injuries had been faked.

His story emerges in hearings of the federal royal commission, the highest level of public inquiry, which was formed after the December 14 attack. During the assault, father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram are accused of opening fire on Jewish families celebrating Hanukkah at the country’s most famous beach, killing 15 people. Public hearings will continue through July.

“It has become increasingly apparent that the online environment and social media platforms in particular are perhaps the most significant factor for the spread of antisemitism,” says assisting counsel Richard Lancaster.

Ostrovsky, head of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council in Sydney, says his selfie started “spreading like wildfire” after being posted online by his friend.

The image depicts him lying on the ground with his head bloodied.

But within hours, AI-generated images were created, with one showing him laughing as a make-up artist touched up the blood on his face.

Social media users said the image was of a crisis actor, someone supposedly hired to secretly stage deadly events to advance political agendas — a persistent narrative among conspiracy theorists.

Ostrovsky says he discovered the disinformation spreading while he was in the hospital two days after the attack.

“I was literally being prepped to go into surgery when I first found out online that was happening,” he says.

Ostrovsky says other deepfake images appeared to show him in the hospital with his bandages removed, or holding an Academy Award trophy, many of which are still online today.

Ostrovsky describes “a relentless tsunami of Jew hatred online.”

Meta responded quickly to remove the false content, but Ostrovsky says he had not had a response from X or YouTube.

“The cumulative nature of it is overwhelming… it tries to completely erase my experience and my trauma,” Ostrovsky says.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.