World
Sacha Baron Cohen and Gal Gadot lead tributes to victims
Baron Cohen, whose children are half-Australian, previously lived in Sydney
December 15, 2025 15:45
Baron Cohen, whose children are half-Australian, previously lived in Sydney
December 15, 2025 15:45Sacha Baron Cohen has issued an emotional plea for “tolerance and peace” in the wake of the terror attack on Sydney’s Jews as he offered a traditional Jewish condolence to honour those slain.
The Jewish actor, whose children are half-Australian and who lived in Sydney and Perth for several years until moving back to the UK this year, is one of numerous Hollywood stars to have publicly condemned the massacre and paid tribute to the victims.
The Borat star, who was married to Australian actor Isla Fisher from 2010 to 2024, posted an image on social media showing a woman on the scene at Bondi Beach cradling a young child covered in an emergency foil blanket.
In the accompanying text, he wrote: “Hanukkah, 2025, Bondi Beach. It could be your family, your child. No one should die because of their faith. May their memory be a blessing – and a light toward tolerance and peace.”
Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, who is also Jewish, said last night she would light a candle in honour of the victims and called on her social-media followers to commemorate the dead by “demanding a world where every life is safe.”
The actor wrote: “Fifteen innocent souls – including a Holocaust survivor, a rabbi and a child – were senselessly murdered while celebrating the first night of Chanukah, the Festival of Light.”
The death toll currently stands at 15, with the ages of those slain ranging from 10 to 87, New South Wales Police has confirmed.
“It is easy to feel defeated,” Gadot continued. “But let us be clear: Our strength is not in despair, but in the light we fiercely choose to create in this terrible void.”
Fellow actor Ashton Kutcher posted on X: “Antisemitic rhetoric is not abstract – it carries a cost, and my brothers and sisters continue to pay it.
“May this devastation somehow spark a hidden miracle, one our eyes do not yet have the merit to see,” he added.
Jerry Seinfeld echoed this sentiment, writing: “I am devastated for the Jewish community in Sydney. A massacre at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia is unfortunately not a case of isolated antisemitism. It’s inspired by other acts of violence against Jewish people and designed to inspire more.”
Highlighting the intervention of unarmed bystander, Ahmed al Ahmed who wrestled a gun from one of the terrorists, Seinfeld added: “Let’s instead be inspired by the hero who refused to be a witness.”
Shopkeeper al Ahmed is “a model for us all,” the comedian said.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.