Sunday's shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach where a Jewish celebration was taking place was unsurprising given the long history of persecution faced by Jews, said Joseph Downing, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Aston University. He added that Israeli leaders’ criticism of Australia for not doing enough to combat antisemitism is largely aimed at a domestic audience, arguing that such claims carry limited weight because antisemitism spreads widely on social media and is not confined to any single country or region.