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This article is part of the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s series on “Globalize the Intifada.” For the full analysis of the slogan’s origins, ideology, and real-world consequences, see the pillar page.
On the first night of Hanukkah in December 2025, “Globalize the Intifada” reached Bondi Beach. Attackers opened fire on “Hanukkah by the Sea,” a public Hanukkah celebration organized by Chabad along Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people.
Families, children, and elderly community members had gathered to light candles together at the start of the Jewish holiday. The event had no political purpose and no connection to Israeli policy. It was an open expression of Jewish religious life in a public space.
Law enforcement classified the assault as a terrorist attack and confirmed the attackers deliberately targeted the Jewish gathering.
A Rabbi, a Child, and a Holocaust Survivor
Among those murdered were a Chabad rabbi who had devoted his life to his community, a young child, and a Holocaust survivor. The attack wiped out generations of Jewish life in a single targeted act of violence at a Hanukkah celebration on a public beach.
Among the dead was also Reuven Morrison, who was shot while hurling bricks at the gunman in an attempt to shield others. His daughter, Sheina Gutnick, has channeled that loss into advocacy against the hate that killed her father.
“We answer darkness with light. That is our story.”
Sheina Gutnick, daughter of Ruvien Morrison z”l, who was murdered in the Bondi Beach terror attack, spoke during President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia about strength, resilience, and proud Jewish identity. pic.twitter.com/29GPYxUM50
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) May 5, 2026
A holiday celebration ended in bloodshed. No Jewish space, not even a Hanukkah gathering on a public beach, was beyond reach.
The Escalation That Preceded the Attack
It did not come without warning. Bondi Beach was the endpoint of a two-year escalation that the Australian Jewish community had documented, warned about, and implored institutions to address.
Two days after October 7, 2023, protesters marched to the Sydney Opera House — lit in the colors of the Israeli flag in solidarity with the victims — chanting “F*** the Jews.” Police advised the Jewish community to stay away from their own city center.
Over the next two years, antisemitic incidents in Australia more than quadrupled. Synagogues were defaced with swastikas and graffiti. Jewish community members were doxxed en masse — six hundred names, photographs, and personal details published in a spreadsheet designed to destroy livelihoods. The Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed in the early hours of the morning while congregation members slept nearby. An Israeli-owned restaurant was attacked the same week. Jewish students faced physical assault on campuses. The Australian government later attributed multiple attacks to Iran.
In August 2025, tens of thousands marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge chanting “Long Live the Intifada.” Four months later, attackers opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.
The Jewish community raised the alarm at every stage. Institutions ignored it.
Governments Begin Treating the Slogan as Incitement
In the days after the massacre, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns recalled parliament and announced emergency legislation banning public use of “Globalize the Intifada.”
“Horrific, recent events have shown that the chant ‘Globalize the Intifada’ is hate speech and encourages violence in our community,” he said. “You’re running a very risky racket if you’re thinking of using that phrase.”
Five months after the massacre, organizers scheduled a “Globalize the Intifada” forum at a Sydney city council venue. The Sydney Lord Mayor cancelled it only after weeks of public pressure from massacre victims’ families, a CAM billboard campaign, and the opening of a Royal Commission into Antisemitism.
🇦🇺 Sydney, Australia: For weeks, Hamas supporters promoted an event calling to “bring the Intifada to Australia.”
Following a letter we sent to the Sydney mayor raising concerns about promoting terrorism and inciting violence against Jews, the original event was canceled.
Yet… pic.twitter.com/2rd3vMxeXy
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) May 6, 2026
On July 17, 2025, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced H. Res. 588, the first congressional resolution explicitly addressing “Globalize the Intifada.” Lead sponsors Representatives Rudy Yakym and Josh Gottheimer named it “a call to violence against Israeli and Jewish people across the world.”
In December 2023, activists unfurled a rooftop banner reading “GLOBALISE THE INTIFADA” near Regent’s Park in London. Police arrested nine people on public order charges. Downing Street condemned the slogan as a call to expand the violence of the intifadas beyond Israel.
In November 2023, the German Ministry of the Interior banned Samidoun, citing extremist conduct, support for violence, and documented ties to the PFLP. Samidoun had been one of the primary vehicles carrying “Globalize the Intifada” from U.S. activist networks into European protest spaces. Germany acted. Most democratic governments did not.
The legislative responses in New South Wales and the United States congressional resolution represent meaningful institutional recognition of what the slogan means and what it produces. They are necessary. Yet they are not sufficient.
Return to the pillar page: ‘Globalize the Intifada’: Meaning, Origins, and Why It Is a Call for Violence Against Jews
Continue Reading:
- The Intifadas: The Terror Campaigns Behind ‘Globalize the Intifada’
- The Organizations Behind ‘Globalize the Intifada’ and the Campaign to Target Israel and America
- The Terror Network Behind ‘Globalize the Intifada’
- ‘Globalize the Intifada’ on Campus: How the Slogan Became a Weapon Against Jewish Students
- Synagogues Under Siege: ‘Globalize the Intifada’ at Synagogue Doors
- Zohran Mamdani: When ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Reaches Elected Office
- Cultural Incitement: How ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Entered Music, Fashion, and Art
