16 December, 2025
It was with shock and dismay that the world received the news about Sunday’s cowardly terror attack on a group of Israelis in Australia. Sixteen lives were lost and about 40 others injured in the Bondi Beach mass shooting, which followed an increase in anti-Jewish incidents in Australia after Israel’s invasion of Gaza, where 70,000 Palestinians have perished at the hands of the Israeli military.
Israel has doubtlessly made Hamas regret its 2023 incursion, indiscriminate killings and mass hostage-taking. But the Netanyahu government has incurred much international opprobrium by unleashing disproportionate violence and carrying out attacks on civilian targets. Worse, the Bondi Beach attack has demonstrated the growing vulnerability of Israeli citizens overseas.
Hamas has had to agree to a ceasefire, and faces the prospect of having to disarm. Israel may obliterate Gaza, but victory will still elude it. Hamas may carry out more attacks on Israel, and its sympathisers may target Israeli civilians, but Palestinians will not benefit from such acts of violence. Only peace will benefit the warring sides and civilians. The problem is best tackled at source.
The need of the hour is for the world to strengthen the Gaza ceasefire and make it work by ensuring that both sides refrain from violating it. That is what US President Donald Trump was expected to do. Last month, the United Nations Security Council adopted a US-sponsored resolution that enshrined Trump’s 20-point plan, including the mandate to set up a multinational force for Gaza, but not a single nation has formally committed troops to it yet, according to media reports.
Unfortunately, instead of intensifying his focus on resolving the Gaza conflict and other disputes in keeping with his pre-election pledges, President Trump appears to be busy enacting scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean, hijacking ships and sinking boats off Venezuela, while eying the Nobel Peace Prize, of all things.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka must keep its guard up. There are Israeli tourists here. In October 2024, the US embassy, followed up by Sri Lankan police and Israel’s National security council, warned of serious terrorist threats to Israelis holidaying in the Arugam Bay area. Thankfully, what was feared did not come to pass, but no room must be left for complacency.
Sri Lanka must take the Bondi Beach attack as a warning and brace itself for any eventuality. A terror attack on its soil is something it needs like a hole in the head while struggling to manage the impact of a natural disaster and keep the economy on track.
The economic cost of the Ditwah disaster has not yet been calculated, but Commissioner General of Essential Services Prabath Chandrakeerthi has given a ballpark figure—USD 6 -7 billion or about 3 – 5 percent of GDP. This is a staggering amount. The economic crisis is far from over. The government has its work cut out to allocate funds for rebuilding programmes and is therefore seeking assistance from other nations. But whether foreign aid will be sufficient for the post-disaster reconstruction projects in all 25 districts, affected by Ditwah, remains to be seen, as we argued in a previous comment. The country is therefore heavily dependent on tourism to shore up its foreign currency reserves. One may recall that the 2019 Easter Terror attacks crippled the tourism sector, and contributed to the forex crisis by depriving the economy of billions of dollars a year.
Sri Lanka cannot take any more shocks, and everything possible must be done to neutralise threats to its national security and prevent it from suffering the same fate as the proverbial man who was gored by a bull after falling from a tree.