Gunmen opened fire on a crowd of around 2,000 Jews gathered at a park next to Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach as the ceremony to light the first Hanukkah candle on a public menorah was about to commence Sunday evening. According to eye-witnesses three gunmen firing rifles aimed into the crowd firing a total of more than 50 rounds, leaving twelve dead at the scene with another 50 wounded later brought to hospital.

Australian Federal Police and the country’s intelligence agency labeled the massacre a terrorist attack within 3 hours of the mass shooting.

Cell phone video shows a passer-by disarming one attacker at the base of a large palm tree lining the parking lot adjacent to the park. Another man pursued the disarmed attacker and threw what looking like a large stone at him. A second attacker on a pedestrian walkway leading from the park to a pub and restaurant section of North Bondi appeared to fire at the two passers-by and in the general direction of the Hanukkah celebration.

AFP told a press conference they had no evidence of a third shooter beyond eye-witness accounts but were looking into a possible third shooter. A car at the scene was found to contain mulptiple home-made explosive devices. Footage from the cell phone and a name released later by police seem to show the attackers were Middle Eastern, perhaps Arab or Lebanese.

Rabbi Eli Schlanger of Sydney was killed at the scene. He leaves hejind five children. One eye-witness said a child was murdered, but New South Wales Police said they had no such information, and that one child wounded in the attack was taken to hospital.

NEW YORK —The World Jewish Congress has welcomed the remarks of Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday unequivocally condemned anti-Semitism during his general audience at the Vatican.

Addressing thousands of faithful the Pope said: “All my predecessors have condemned anti-Semitism with clear words,” adding, “I too confirm that the Church does not tolerate anti-Semitism and fights against it, on the basis of the Gospel itself.”

WJC president Ronald S. Lauder praised the Pope’s message calling it “an extraordinarily positive and deeply meaningful gesture.”

“At a time when Jews are facing the greatest persecution since the Second World War, the Pope’s message carries profound fraternal meaning,” Lauder said. “Gestures like this inspire us to strengthen the bonds between Jews and Catholics, and to work together for a world of greater co-existence among religions, in the pursuit of peace.”

The Pope’s statement comes as the Catholic Church marks the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the landmark declaration of the Second Vatican Council which transformed Jewish-Catholic relations and established a foundation of mutual respect and dialogue.

Full statement here.