AA Edit | Bondi terror: Sign Of Our Times

Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia’s most famous half-mile crescent of sand that is worshipped by sun and fun lovers, became the scene of a terrible terror attack that took at least 16 innocent Jewish lives even as one of two shooters of Pakistani origin was gunned down by the police and the other being treated for injuries.

The latest incident of religion-based terror, coming as it does amid instances of mindless gun violence, especially in the USA, and targeted attacks driven by religious hate or zealotry, as demonstrated in an attack this year in the Kashmir Valley, is symptomatic of the very violent times we live in.

This is the age of impunity in which many world powers are also seen to be acting without fear of transgressing the rules-based order that has largely driven the world post-World War II, even as nations invade others or attack neighbours with military or state-sponsored terror attacks.

Such an atmosphere is never going to make it difficult for the disgruntled or the malcontents to draw motivation from perceived injustices. Australia, somewhat removed from the Middle East cauldron of violence, may have learned that distance is no guarantee against hate events occurring Down under.

Israel has squarely blamed Australia’s liberal outlook for the spread of antisemitism that may have inspired the attack on a community on the first day of its Hanukkah festival, but intelligence agencies, after investigating, had cleared a gun-holding person for links to a Sydney-based ISIS cell six years ago.

Suffice it to say that post-Gaza war, societies are seen to be failing when people must live with grave security concerns over whether it is safe to be seen together in public. But some hope that humanity will live on was illustrated in the heroism of the Syrian man named Ahmed al-Ahmed who bravely disarmed the elder shooter while surpassing religious boundaries. The fundraising to recognise his valour has already crossed a million dollars.