Terror on three continents with attacks in Australia and the USA and a thwarted plot in Germany...

A sad Sunday reminder of the world we live in.

The news Sunday morning couldn’t have been more depressing, a terrorist attack targeting Jews in Australia on the first day of Chanukah and a targeted shooting that I think will eventually point to having Jews as the target. Moments later, I saw the news of the foiled terror plot targeting a Bavarian Christmas market.

My plans to get up and publish early about floor crossing and the political drama in Ottawa went out the window, pushed off until later today at least.

The shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia hits close to home, I know someone who had been there just hours before the shooting. I have several friends who know this man, Arsen Ostrovsky, who was shot in the head during the attack but survived. He had only recently moved to Australia to help the Jewish community there fight antisemitism.

In this type of story, facts can change quickly but here is what we know so far.

• 11 people killed, plus one of the two gunmen

• At least 29 people taken to hospital, including a child

• One of the gunmen was killed at the scene, another taken into custody

• The carnage would have been worse if it wasn’t for Ahmed El Ahmad who disarmed one of the gunmen

We could see the death toll rise beyond 11 given the 29 people in hospital, let’s pray that is not the case.

Shooting people on a beach celebrating Chanukah...

The event was a free community event organized by Chabad of Bondi. It included a public menorah lighting, free entertainment, activities for kids and of course jelly donuts.

I’ve been to events like this many times in Palm Springs when visiting California. Chabad events like this are always warm and welcoming, the Rabbis will answer any questions you have for them, they aren’t there to evangelize, just to be part of the community.

Two armed men decided they should react to this by shooting indiscriminately at the beach.

Make no mistake, this was an attack targeting Jews, but Bondi Beach is a very popular destination for everyone in the area. This was an attack on Jews but also an attack on all of Australia, and by extension all of Western civilization.

One shooter named and a hero too...

The latest reporting that I’ve seen is that the identified shooter, Naveed Akram, is dead. Earlier reporting had said he was the man in custody, we shall see what happens as we get further updates.

He’s variously described as a Pakistani national or simply of Pakistani origin. The 24 year-old had been associated with a couple of post-secondary institutions in the area. It also appears that his family home was raided.

We don’t at this point have the name of the second terrorist.

The other name we have is that of 43 year-old Ahmed El Ahmad, a fruit shop owner and father of two who disarmed one of the terrorists and held him until police arrived. He has reportedly sustained two gunshot wounds but is expected to recover.

Like the shooters, reports say El Ahmad is a Muslim, one who risked his life to save people during a targeted attack on Jews.

Here is the video of his absolutely heroic act.

Problems for police in Australia...

The Bondi Beach shooting is the worst gun massacre in that country since Port Arthur in 1996. After that guns weren’t banned in Australia as is often claimed but ownership was severely restricted.

The types of guns available to the public was restricted, and who could get a licence to own a gun was also heavily restricted.

What we do know about the Bondi Beach shooting is that the terrorists used multiple rifles to carry out their attack. From watching video of them two men shooting over several minutes, I really don’t think any of those guns are legal in Australia.

They are shooting semi-automatic rifles, definitely looks and sounds more powerful than a .22 and they aren’t stopping to change magazines after just a few shots.

So how do two men, one of who was on a watch list from police and intelligence agencies, but not deemed an imminent threat, get their hands on these guns in Australia? The Australian authorities are going to have to answer sticky questions like this in the coming days.

Brown University shooting remains a mystery...

What we know is just after 4pm on Saturday afternoon, a man walked into a study hall at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and opened fire with a handgun. Police now say that two people are dead, nine are injured and they have “detained” a person of interest.

At an update just around noon, Rhode Island police officials would not release the name of the person, would only call him a person of interest and said he was detained, adding that custody was the wrong word. Of course, the fact that police won’t reveal any details about the shooter sends the speculation online into overdrive.

Why?

Because there is a police pattern across North America, around the Western world really, not to confirm names and other identifying details when the perpetrator of a violent attack is a Muslim. Just as there is a predisposition among some to blame everything on Islam and Muslims, even when the facts don’t back it up, police services, especially in very woke areas like Democrat controlled Rhode Island, tend to clam up if a Muslim is involved.

The assumption is that if this were a white guy who was part of a far-right group his name, photo and full life story would have been released by now.

There are confirmed reports that the man shouted something before he started firing. The unconfirmed reports are that he shouted Allahu Akbar before he began shooting.

That police won’t confirm anything only feeds into the speculation that he did shout that.

What we do know is that the study session was to help students review for their final exam in an economics course taught by Professor Rachel Friedberg. Professor Friedberg apparently teaches one of the most popular undergrad courses at Brown but is also Jewish and has taught in Israel in the past.

Rachel Friedberg is Teaching Professor of Economics, Faculty Associate of the Program in Judaic Studies, and Faculty Associate of the Population Studies and Training Center.

Right now, she splits her time between economics and Jewish studies, even looking at the “intersection of economics and Jewish studies.” This is why people I am hearing from believe it will come out that this was also, at attack that in some way, was an attempt to target Jews even though Professor Friedberg was not at the study session, it was being led by her teaching assistants as is common at university.

Rhode Island Police Chief Oscar Perez wouldn’t even confirm facts that FBI Director Kash Patel had put out earlier that day. Including that the suspect, sorry person of interest who was detained, was found in a local hotel room after tips and hard work by police and FBI officials.

I get police officials being careful in their language to make sure they don’t taint a case or mess things up, but they seem far too careful in their language to be taken seriously.

Another attempt at carnage in a Christmas market…

On December 20 last year, an SUV drove through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing six and injuring more than 300 others. No, that is not a typo, that is how many people were injured.

On Friday, five men were arrested over a plot to carry out another Christmas market attack in an area northeast of Munich. Even BBC is reporting that they are all foreign nationals who planned to carry out the attack.

Three Moroccans, an Egyptian and a Syrian were detained on Friday over the plan to target a market in the southern Bavarian state. Authorities said they suspected an “Islamist motive”.

Prosecutors said the Egyptian - a 56-year-old - was alleged to have “called for a vehicle attack... with the aim of killing or injuring as many people as possible”. The Moroccans allegedly agreed to carry out the attack.

The Egyptian man is described as a local Imam who pushed the three Moroccan men to carry out the attack. The Syrian man is charged with offences related to encouraging the men to carry out the attack that was meant to kill as many people as possible.

When I saw the images that went with this story, the concrete barricades the anti-car ramming devices that are set up around German Christmas markets now, I asked why we accept that we have to live this way now. Those same barricades and devices are used at events here and 25 years ago, we had none of this.

Now, you can’t go to any major event that attracts thousands of people without the streets being blocked off like this, there being dump trucks or buses to block the roadway to protect from terror attacks. The hoops we jump through to do something as simple as getting on a plane are ridiculous, and yet we accept them rather than run those people who support violent extremism out of town.

In the West, we have a problem with violent extremists, terrorism supporters and jihadists - both imported and homegrown - we need to figure out how to deal with this problem and ignore those calling for it to be dealt with racists or Islamophobes.