Sydney Hanukkah massacre appears motivated by ‘Islamic State ideology’ — Australian PM

A father and son appeared to be driven by “Islamic State ideology” when they opened fire on a Jewish festival at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

“It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State ideology,” Albanese says of the terror attack, in which 15 people were killed.

“The ideology that has been around for more than a decade that led to this ideology of hate, and in this case, a preparedness to engage in mass murder.”

Albanese says Naveed Akram, 24, had come to the attention of Australia’s intelligence agency in 2019 — but he was not considered an imminent threat at the time.

“He was drawn to their attention because of his association with others.

“Two of the people he was associated with were charged and went to jail, but he was not seen at that time to be a person of interest.”