Updated info on Ahmed al-Ahmed (feel free to edit into body of your post if you want to):

Ahmed al Ahmed's cousin gives an interview to Al Araby. Full translation in the subtitles, but key highlights:

His full name is Ahmed Fathi Al-Ahmed

Ahmed is Australian, of Syrian origin, from the city of Idlib, from the village of Al-Nayrab

He didn’t know; it was not targeting Jews. He saw an armed man shooting at people. When he saw people dying and being shot, he couldn’t bear it.

At first, he wasn’t thinking about dying. When he saw people dying and bullets flying above his head, he said, “God gave me courage.”

Regret? No, God forbid. On the contrary, it was a heroic act. Why regret it? He is proud that he saved lives. Only God knows how many people would have died.

We live in Australia with all nationalities and sects. In our life, we never think about these things—whether someone is of a certain nationality or religion. Here, we don’t care whether someone is Jewish, Syrian, Muslim, or otherwise
Source: Twitter

Video interview here

Update: Appears one of the suspects is likely Middle East/Arabic/Subcontinent background. Going to see a rise in racism for sure

Naveed Akram has been named as one of the shooters. Reports are that he's of Pakistani origin and he is Muslim.

Fortunately the guy who tackled one of the shooters has an Arabic name so my hope that's going to dampen down the inevitable response of racism and islamophobia.

Horrifying scenes. That video of the bloke that tackled one of the gunmen is one of the craziest things ive seen. What an absolute hero.

But who will stop the bad guys with the guns?

First the Yom Kippur attack in Manchester and now this… horrible all around.

I find it nerve wrecking to leave the house these days because I can no longer tell if when someone tells me there was an “antisemitic incident” if it was just a pro-Palestine protest or if my life would be actually in danger if I went anywhere near Synagogue.

I'm going to guess the shooters were white supremacists with incoherent ideology '

They were targeting Hannukah celebrations allegedly. So you could have Nazis or some sort of ISIS adjacent terror cell.

I thought this was somewhere in the US since shootings are so commonplace here.

Letter from Rabbi Schlanger to Albanese:

Dear Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,

As a Rabbi in Sydney, I implore you not to betray the Jewish people and not to betray G-d Himself. This land was given by G-d to Abraham, then to his son Isaac, and then to Jacob, to be the eternal homeland of the Jewish people. Throughout history, Jews have been torn from their land again and again by leaders who are now remembered with scorn in the pages of history. Today, you have the opportunity to stand on the side of truth and righteousness. By rescinding this act of betrayal, you will not only honor the Jewish people and our heritage but also align yourself with the word of G-d. Should you choose this path, you will be welcomed home with open arms and even a warm Shabbat meal. I congratulate you in advance for the courage to do what is right and to stand firmly against this act of heresy.

With hope and prayer, Rabbi Eli Schlanger Sydney, Australia

https://x.com/DataAnalyst1309/status/2000129628732903613/mediaViewer?currentTweet=2000129628732903613&currentTweetUser=DataAnalyst1309 Video of tackle and second shooter

Fucken hell.

Well TIL there's a pro Israeli synagogue in Bondi

https://events.humanitix.com/chanukah-by-the-sea-2025

The event organised by Israeli's Ovel Avraham Synagogue in Sydney

Christ that footage is harrowing.