Australian social media users accused “Islamists” of celebrating the Bondi Beach mass shooting at a Sydney suburb, sharing a video of fireworks going off, which officials said was in fact for Christmas celebrations.
The footage is among several threads of misinformation that have emerged online in the aftermath of Sunday’s shooting at Australia’s most famous surf beach, which authorities have labeled as an anti-Semitic terrorist attack on a Jewish festival.
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The gunmen targeted an annual celebration that drew more than 1,000 people to the beach to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, authorities said, killing 15 people and wounding 42.
A video soon circulated showing fireworks going off into the night sky, and by Monday morning had spread to India, Britain and the United States.
“(The people) we have let into our country are now setting off fireworks in Bankstown, celebrating the Bondi Massacre of our Jewish citizens,” said one Australian-based user, referring to a southwestern Sydney suburb.
Deploying dehumanizing language in an X post that was reposted over 750 times, the user also asked: “Why aren’t the Police arresting (them)?”
Others on Facebook claimed the video showed “Islamists setting off fireworks in Sydney to celebrate the terrorist attack against the Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.”
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