Australia PM says Jewish community ‘completely unbreakable’ after Bondi attack

December 20, 2025 4:20 PM

Australia PM says Jewish community ‘completely unbreakable’ after Bondi attack

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that the country's Jewish community was "completely unbreakable" after attending a memorial at a Sydney synagogue for the victims of a mass shooting attack on a seaside Hanukkah celebration. The mass shooting at Bondi Beach on Sunday, Australia's worst in nearly 30 years, is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting Jews. Authorities have ramped up patrols and policing across the country to prevent further antisemitic violenc...

After decades in exile, Syria’s Jews visit Damascus

February 19, 2025 5:36 PM

After decades in exile, Syria’s Jews visit Damascus

For the first time in three decades, Rabbi Joseph Hamra and his son Henry read from a Torah scroll in a synagogue in the heart of Syria's capital Damascus, carefully passing their thumbs over the handwritten text as if still in awe they were back home. The father and son fled Syria in the 1990s, after then-Syrian president Hafez al-Assad lifted a travel ban on the country's historic Jewish community, which had faced decades of restrictions including on owning property or holding jobs. Virtuall...