As the appalling story of Sunday’s anti-Jewish mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach continue to unfold, and 16 people are now dead, there have been few glimmers of light in the darkness.
Ahmed’s cousin, Mustafa, said Ahmed saw an opportunity to tackle the shooter
The men identified as the shooters are a father and son, Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24. The father was shot and killed by police last night, and the son was overpowered and taken into custody. The New South Wales police commissioner says little is yet known about the pair, but Sajid Akram was a licensed gun owner, with six guns in his possession. Old social media posts have also emerged of Naveed Akram being praised for his Islamic studies in 2022.
How these two men became radicalised to commit this atrocity, and how ingrained was their Jew hatred that they came to perpetrate their evil two-man jihad against men, women and children peacefully and joyfully celebrating Hanukkah, will become clear in the coming hours and days. They have, however, destroyed any lingering illusion since Hamas’s 7 October pogrom that Australia is the multicultural haven of peace and tolerance Australians are continually told we are.
But in the sadness, grief and gloom there is one shining example of courage and bravery of a man who risked his life to save others. He was not a policeman or emergency worker. He was just an ordinary bloke in the wrong place at what, for many, turned out to be the right time.
And like the men shooting to end lives, the man who risked his to save many others is a Muslim.
Suburban fruit shop owner, Ahmed al Ahmed, and his cousin happened to be visiting Bondi Beach as the shootings began. They took shelter behind parked cars as the bullets flew and innocent people were being cut down. Ahmed could have stayed there, keeping his head down, but saw he and his cousin were close enough to one gunman unaware of their proximity.
His cousin Mustafa told Australian media today that Ahmed saw an opportunity to tackle the shooter, and decided to try.
‘Ahmed said that he was really upset to see so many people dying in front of him, he said he couldn’t take any more and he had to stop the killings,’ Mustafa said.
‘He said he just had to do something. He’s a very religious man, he’s Muslim, he doesn’t believe in killings, Muslims don’t.’
‘He said he couldn’t take any killings in front of his eyes, and that it was time to stop the killing. He prayed to God, he said ‘give me strength’ and he ran at him from behind.’
The world saw Ahmed’s bravery, captured on video. How he jumped the younger shooter, disarming him after what must have been an adrenalin-charged wrestle, will be long remembered. In the act, he drew the fire of the older Akram and was hit in his shoulder and hand. Nearly a day later, Ahmed is in hospital with his various wounds and expected to undergo surgery later today.
Ahmed al Ahmed came to Australia from Syria 13 years ago. He has lived a quiet and peaceful life in his new country, runs his small business and is married with two young daughters.
Today, however, he is also a hero, celebrated around the world. President Donald Trump called him ‘a very, very brave person, actually, who went and attacked frontally one of the shooters, and saved a lot of lives.’ A commentator in the Jerusalem Post spoke for many when he wrote, ‘It is time for Jewish organisations in Australia and worldwide to elevate Ahmed al Ahmed as a symbol of what courage looks like when it is unscripted and unpolished, when it comes from instinct and decency rather than ideology. He did not have to calculate the risk. He lived it,’ and called for Ahmed to be honoured as ‘Righteous Among the Nations.’ An American billionaire donated $100,000 (£75,000) to assist him.
But Ahmed’s courage and bravery also serves a nobler purpose, especially today in shocked and horrified Australia. In the aftermath of Bondi, many Australians, in their anger at the perpetrators of this horrible terror act, haven’t hesitated to tar all Muslims with those men’s vile and evil brush. That is as wrong and hateful as those who hate Jews because of their anti-Israel or pro-Palestine ideologies. They should instead be thankful that many Jewish lives were saved by a Muslim man, who could have chosen to keep under cover and save himself. Ahmed’s selfless bravery is a timely and welcome reminder, to all who watched on in horror as the Bondi outrage unfolded, that it is wrong to conflate peaceable, faithful and devout Muslims with radical Islamists.
After a brutal terror attack like Bondi’s, it is understandable that many, in their anger and revulsion, apportion blame indiscriminately. They go past Islamic fanatics and zealots and willingly believe the worst of all Muslims: hate begetting hate. The spontaneous heroism of this mild-mannered, middle-aged Muslim family man reminds us that no faith has a monopoly on goodness – or badness. He’s an antidote to the hatred the perpetrators showed to the Jews they targeted.
In Australia, as we grieve and respond to what happened on Sunday evening, thanks to Ahmed al Ahmed that’s a salutary lesson about humanity we need to remember just now.
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