A New York–based rabbi has sharply criticized Australian authorities following a deadly shooting that disrupted a Hanukkah gathering on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, leaving at least 15 people dead and 40 others injured. Among the victims were two well-known rabbis.

Rabbi Schmaya Krinsky of the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters said the attack, allegedly carried out by a father and son, exposed what he described as Australia’s failure to confront rising antisemitism.

Confirming the death of the second rabbi, Krinsky said, “As well as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, we have now learned that Chabad Rabbi Yaakov Levitan has succumbed to his wounds. May his memory also be a blessing.”

Krinsky warned that Jewish communities worldwide are increasingly on edge but refuse to retreat. “Jewish people around the world right now are uneasy, but they are defiant,” he said.

He added that allowing hostile rhetoric to go unchecked has real and deadly consequences, stating, “Every incremental escalation of antisemitic language that is tolerated has a direct, and now, deadly, consequence, and must no longer go unchecked.”