An Australian royal commission of inquiry examining the circumstances behind December's antisemitic shooting attack at Bondi Beach has raised questions regarding the conduct of New South Wales Police.
The newly-published interim report reveals that the Jewish community had issued explicit warnings about a real threat to the lives of those attending the event shortly before the attacker opened fire, killing 15 people.
At the center of the findings is an email sent by the Community Security Group (CSG) to local police, warning clearly that it assessed the security level alert for the local Jewish community as "HIGH."
"A terrorist attack against the NSW Jewish Community is likely and there is a high level of antisemitic vilification," the CSG said in the email, detailed in the report.
Despite the targeted warning, police responded that they were unable to allocate dedicated officers for on-site security and instead offered "mobile patrols" that would pass through the area periodically.
In addition to exposing the failure, the commission called for deep structural changes to Australia’s security systems. The report recommends comprehensive reform of counterterrorism units, with an emphasis on improving integration and the coordination of various task forces and enhancing access to intelligence systems and real-time information sharing.
The commission also stated that police should seriously consider significantly increasing security measures at Jewish events with a "public dimension" to prevent a recurrence of such a massacre in the future.