Letters | Bondi response must go beyond policing and towards rebuilding unity
Readers discuss social cohesion in Australia, a commission into the Bondi shooting, and US interventions
From an Islamic perspective, such violence is morally indefensible. The Koran teaches that “whoever kills a soul…it is as if he had slain all mankind” (5:32), a principle that leaves no room for the targeting of civilians or the use of terror as a political tool. Those who claim religious justification for massacres like Bondi – perpetrated by an Islamic State-inspired father-and-son duo – stand in direct opposition to the ethical core of the faith they misuse, deepening suspicion between communities precisely when solidarity is most needed.
The Bondi attack did not emerge in a vacuum. It occurred amid a sharp rise in antisemitism worldwide since October 2023 and a troubling normalisation of political violence in democracies, with a survey suggesting about 10 per cent of Australians now endorse it.
As an educator, I believe the response must go beyond policing and intelligence. Schools and communities need investment in critical thinking, media literacy, ethical education and substantive interfaith initiative: sustained meaningful engagement rather than occasional photo opportunities. Beyond condemnation, governments should fund deradicalisation and address polarisation to rebuild social cohesion. Let this tragedy unite us in humanity’s name, not drive us further apart.
Ilnur Minakhmetov, Yau Ma Tei