A Jewish community group warned police an attack was “likely” just days before two terrorists killed 15 people in a mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach, an inquiry said on Thursday.

Sajid Akram and son Naveed are accused of opening fire as Jewish families thronged Bondi Beach for a Hanukkah celebration in December, killing 15 people in Australia’s deadliest mass shooting for 30 years.

Australia’s Jewish community “was the evident target of the attack,” a high-powered royal commission tasked with investigating the shooting concluded in an interim report.

The report revealed a Jewish security group had warned police that upcoming Hanukkah celebrations were at risk in an email sent less than a week before the Bondi attack on December 14.

“A terrorist attack against the NSW Jewish Community is likely and there is a high level of antisemitic vilification,” the Community Security Group wrote in an email released by the inquiry.

Police later said they could not provide dedicated officers, but would send mobile patrols to “check in and monitor the event.”

The inquiry said police should consider ramping up security arrangements at Jewish celebrations “that have a public facing element.”

Asked by reporters if police had failed to properly monitor the Bondi event, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was a matter for the New South Wales state government.

“This is as the government envisaged — that the first task of........

© The Times of Israel