By Scott Murdoch
SYDNEY, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The funeral of 10-year-old Bondi Beach shooting victim Matilda will be held in Sydney on Thursday as her parents criticised the government for failing to respond to a rising tide of antisemitism.
Matilda was the youngest of 15 people killed in the Hanukkah festival shooting spree in Sydney on Sunday, allegedly carried out by a father and son radicalised by Islamic State. It was Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years.
Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son and alleged accomplice, Naveed Akram, was charged with 59 offences on Wednesday.
Matilda’s funeral follows the first of the services for the victims on Wednesday, including those for Rabbis Eli Schlanger, 41, and Yaakov Levitan, 39.
“We have been saying for years … they didn’t do anything,” Valentyna, Matilda’s mother, told Australian media on Wednesday, speaking about a string of antisemitic attacks in Sydney. The family has asked the media not to use their surname.
ANTISEMITIC THREATS
In the latest incident, a 19-year-old Sydney man was charged and will face court on Thursday after allegedly threatening violence towards a Jewish person on a flight from Sydney to Bali on Wednesday.
“Police will allege the man made antisemitic threats and hand gestures indicating violence towards the alleged victim, who the man knew to be affiliated with the Jewish community,” Australian Federal Police said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under pressure from Australia’s Jewish community who say he has prioritised gun reform following the shooting rather than stricter measures on antisemitism.
The centre-left Labor government has ruled out holding a Royal Commission, a high-level inquiry with judicial powers, into the shootings for now.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Thursday said a Royal Commission would distract Australia’s security agencies at a time when they should be focused on investigating the shootings.
Police are looking into Australia-based Islamic State networks as well as the gunmen’s alleged links to militants in the Philippines.
The Philippines National Security Council on Wednesday said that while Sajid Akram and his son had been in the country for a month in November the pair had not engaged in any military training.
Islamic State-linked networks are known to operate in the Philippines and have wielded some influence in the south of the country.
“There is no valid report or confirmation that the two received any form of military training while in the country and no evidence supports such a claim at present,” Eduardo Ano, Philippines national security adviser, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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