Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans Thursday for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an antisemitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season.
Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harm’s way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself.
Australian Prime Minister’s Office / AP
The attackers, identified as Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, are accused of perpetrating Australia’s worst massacre since 1996.
Speaking at a press conference after a Christmas Day lunch at a charitable foundation in Sydney, Albanese described a holiday season defined by a sharp contrast between extremist violence and the “best of humanity.”
“This Christmas is a different one because of the anti-terror and the terrorist attack motivated by ISIS and antisemitism,” Albanese said. “But at the same time as we have seen the worst of humanity, we have seen the bravery and kindness and compassion … from those who rushed to danger.”
Acts of heroism amid the tragedy
The proposed honors would recognize those who are nominated and recommended for bravery or meritorious awards under the existing Australian Honors and Awards system for their actions during and after the attack. Officials have not yet said who would be honored.
In the days after Ahmed’s story came to light, members of the public donated more than $1.5 million to aid the 44-year-old father and shop owner who was seen on video tackling one of the gunmen from behind and wrestling the rifle from his hands. He was shot multiple times in the left arm, apparently by the second gunman, and was expected to face months of recovery.
“Ahmed did really a heroic job,” his cousin, Mohammad al Ahmed, told The Associated Press. “Without any hesitation, he tackled the terrorist and disarmed him just to save innocent people.”
Other accounts of heroism also emerged, including acts of extraordinary bravery by victims who did not survive.
They included a married couple in their 60s, Boris and Sofia Gurman, who were seen on video trying to stop the attack just before it unfolded. In the footage, Boris Gurman can be seen grabbing a rifle from one of the two gunmen as they unloaded multiple weapons from their car, which had an ISIS flag draped across the windshield. Moments later, the Gurmans were shot and killed.
“This encapsulates who Boris and Sofia were — people who instinctively and selflessly tried to help others,” their family said in a statement.
Another man, 62-year-old Reuven Morrison, was shot dead as he pelted one of the attackers with bricks.
“From my sources and understanding, he had jumped up the second the shooting started. He managed to throw bricks at the terrorist,” his daughter, Sheina Gutnick, told CBS News the day after the attack. His actions were also captured on video.
Gutnick berated the government and police for being “untrained for this massacre, untrained for what’s to come, untrained for what the Jewish community has been telling the Australian government is inevitable,” adding to a chorus of criticism after a documented rise in hate attacks targeting Australia’s Jewish residents.
An American who was at the Bondi Beach event, Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff, ran over to help a police officer who was shot, taking off his own shirt to use as a tourniquet, his father told CBS News. Moments later, Lazaroff was also shot and wounded, and his mentor was killed. “As I was talking to Leibel, he said, ‘I wish I could have done more,'” his father said.
Australia strengthening gun laws
Just a day after pushing through the country’s toughest firearm laws, New South Wales state leader Chris Minns issued a plea for national solidarity, urging Australians to support their Jewish neighbors during what he described as a fortnight of “heartbreak and pain.”
“Everybody in Australia needs to wrap their arms around them and lift them up,” Minns said at a news conference Thursday. “I want them to know that Australians have got their back. We’re in their corner and we’re going to help them get through this.”
The gun reforms, which passed through the New South Wales state legislature on Christmas Eve, include capping individual gun ownership at four and reclassifying high-risk weapons like pump-action firearms.
The legislation also tightens licensing by reducing permit terms to two years, restricting ownership to Australian citizens and removing the review pathway for license denials.
“Gun reform alone will not solve hatred or extremism, but we can’t fail to act on restricting access to weapons which could lead to further violence against our citizens, Minns said earlier in the week when introducing the proposed laws.
Other new laws will ban the public display of terrorist symbols and grant police expanded powers to restrict public gatherings in specific areas following terrorist incidents.
Albanese has also announced plans to tighten Australia’s already strict gun laws.