On 14 December 2025, Australia experienced its worst mass casualty terrorist attack (and the second worst mass casualty shooting) in its history, when a father and son, inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group, attacked Hanukkah celebrations at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach. Fifteen people were murdered that day and another forty wounded.

The Bondi attack exposed vulnerabilities in Australia’s national security apparatus that, for over two decades, had prioritised the prevention and countering of terrorist threats, absorbing enormous amounts of focus, personnel and resources. Yet, at the end of all of that, Australia experienced its worst terrorist attack.

In a country as safe and stable as Australia, its citizens have every right to hold its law enforcement and national security agencies to the highest standards. That there were failures is a given. Why, how, and who are responsible continues to be investigated.

There are broader questions too about the evolution of the Islamic State threat in Australia, how the Bondi attack fits into that picture, and the potential impact of the Bondi attack as a source of inspiration for future attacks.

Today, Dr. Levi West will unpack all of this and more for CounterCheck. A leading counterterrorism expert and the foremost scholar on the evolution of terrorist threats in Australia, Dr. West is a research fellow at the Australian National University where his work is funded by Australia’s Office of National Intelligence through a National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grant.

His most recent article, co-authored with Dr. Andrew Zammit and published by the CTC Sentinel, is the most comprehensive analysis of the Bondi attack and its strategic implications to date.

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