Weaponizing Tragedy: How the Bondi Beach Attack Became a Tool Against Pro-Palestinian Voices
The horrific antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach that killed 16 people attending a Hanukkah celebration represents a profound tragedy that deserves unequivocal condemnation. Yet within hours, conservative critics weaponized this violence to attack New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a progressive Muslim politician who has refused to criminalize Palestinian liberation slogans.
The Material Context: What “Intifada” Actually Means
The term “intifada” — Arabic for “shaking off” — historically refers to popular uprisings against Israeli military occupation in Palestinian territories. The phrase “globalize the intifada” emerged in solidarity movements calling for worldwide resistance to occupation and settler colonialism, not violence against Jewish people.
Critics deliberately conflate this call for liberation with antisemitism, erasing the distinction between opposing Israeli state policies and targeting Jewish communities. This rhetorical sleight-of-hand serves a clear political function: silencing criticism of a military occupation that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Class Warfare Through Identity Politics
Mamdani’s rise represents a threat to New York’s political establishment. As a Democratic Socialist assemblyman who campaigns on universal housing, free transit, and challenging real estate capital, his class politics threaten entrenched power. The deployment of accusations around antisemitism functions as ideological warfare against materialist politics that center economic justice.
Conservative commentators like David Frum and figures like Laura Loomer seized upon the Bondi Beach massacre to attack Mamdani precisely because his political project threatens capital accumulation in America’s most expensive city. The cynical exploitation of Jewish victims to score points against a Muslim progressive reveals the bad faith at work.
Ahmed al-Ahmed: The Inconvenient Hero
Conspicuously absent from most right-wing commentary is Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Muslim Syrian refugee who risked his life to stop the attackers, potentially losing an arm in the process. His heroism disrupts the narrative that Muslims inherently threaten Jewish safety, exposing the Islamophobic assumptions underlying attacks on Mamdani.
This omission is not accidental. Acknowledging al-Ahmed’s courage would undermine the project of painting all pro-Palestinian Muslims as complicit in antisemitic violence.
The Feminist Lens: Gendered Violence and Imperial Logic
From a feminist anti-imperialist perspective, we must recognize how both antisemitic violence and Israeli state violence against Palestinians reflect patriarchal systems of domination. Women and children comprise the majority of Palestinian casualties in Gaza, where Israeli bombardment has destroyed maternal healthcare infrastructure and created a humanitarian catastrophe.
The same imperial logic that enables occupation abroad fuels racist violence at home. Resisting one requires resisting both.
Mamdani’s Principled Position
Mamdani condemned the Bondi Beach attack immediately and unequivocally while refusing to criminalize Palestinian solidarity language. His statement that “every state should be of equal rights” reflects a commitment to universal human dignity over ethno-nationalist frameworks.
His bridge-building with Jewish communities — meeting with both Orthodox leaders and progressive Jewish activists — demonstrates good faith engagement. Yet critics demand he adopt their precise language about Israeli statehood as a litmus test, revealing their interest lies not in combating antisemitism but in enforcing ideological conformity on Palestine.
The Broader Pattern: Silencing Dissent
This episode fits a well-documented pattern where accusations of antisemitism are weaponized against left politicians who challenge imperialism and capitalism. From Jeremy Corbyn in Britain to Ilhan Omar in the U.S., progressive politicians face coordinated attacks when they dare question Israeli policy or U.S. military aid.
The strategy is transparent: exploit genuine Jewish fears and real antisemitic violence to delegitimize material critiques of apartheid and occupation. It works by collapsing necessary distinctions between Jewish people, Zionism as a political ideology, and the Israeli state’s actions.
Moving Forward: Solidarity Against All Forms of Oppression
Combating antisemitism requires confronting its actual sources: white nationalist movements, conspiracy theories, and systems of domination. It cannot be achieved by silencing critics of Israeli policy or Palestinian advocates.
True solidarity means mourning the Bondi Beach victims while recognizing that Palestinian liberation and Jewish safety are not competing values but complementary struggles against the forces of occupation, imperialism, and racist violence.
The attempts to destroy Mamdani’s political future by weaponizing this tragedy ultimately serve those who profit from war, occupation, and urban inequality — not those genuinely committed to protecting Jewish communities or achieving justice.
