GOP Lawmakers Call for Purge of Muslims After Bondi Beach Shooting

MAGA world is calling for a mass deportation of Muslims, following a mass shooting in Australia—ignoring the reality that it was a member of the local Muslim community who intervened and stopped the violence.

At least 15 people were killed Sunday in a horrific attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Two men—a father-son duo—allegedly opened fire on a crowd of Jewish Australians on the first night of Hanukkah. The country’s leadership has declared the incident a terrorist attack.

The suspects have been identified by authorities as 50-year-old Sajid Akram and his son, 24-year-old Naveed Akram. The elder Akram moved to Australia in 1998, while the junior was born in the country.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the suspects were “driven” by an antisemitic ideology. He also rejected accusations that recent Muslim immigration into Australia was to blame, noting that the pair had engaged in an “extreme perversion of Islam” while underscoring the actions of the day’s hero—Ahmed Al Ahmed—who ran toward the danger and grappled a gun away from one of the attackers.

But halfway across the world, American politicians were more interested in broadcasting a simpler message—even if it didn’t accurately reflect the events. Across social media, Republicans lawmakers issued similar statements suggesting that Muslims are a threat to peaceful society that must be deported.

“The Religion of Peace strikes again,” posted Representative Randy Fine. “How many Muslim attacks do there have to be until we say enough?”

Senator Tommy Tuberville went a step further, claiming that “Islam is not a religion. It’s a cult.”

“Stop worrying about offending the pearl clutchers,” Tuberville wrote. “We’ve got to SEND THEM HOME NOW or we’ll become the United Caliphate of America.”

Even local politicians hopped on the islamophobic bandwagon. Retweeting a message celebrating the “AUSTRALIAN HERO” (but that did not mention his religion), New York City Councilmember Vickie Paladino claimed that the world was suffering from a “global jihad” that “cannot” be ignored.

“We need to take very seriously the need to begin the expulsion of Muslims from western nations, or at the very least the severe sanction of them within western borders,” Paladino wrote.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani—the economic powerhouse’s first Muslim mayor—did not take the same approach. In a lengthy missive, Mamdani recognized the “growing pattern of violence targeted at Jewish people across the world,” and implored New Yorkers to follow in Al Ahmed’s footsteps, urging the city to “confront hatred with the urgency and action it demands.”