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A former Hamas hostage told Fox News Digital that he warned Australian leaders to take anti-Semitism more seriously months before the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach.
Eli Sharabi, who spent 491 days as a hostage in Gaza, said the attack on Bondi Beach was “madness” but far from unexpected. Sharabi told Fox News Digital that while in Australia in June, he met with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong and warned them that rising anti-Semitism would lead to something worse.
Sharabi recalled officers saying that there would be hate crimes in Australia and that he would “see fear” of Jewish people walking in the streets. He urged them to speak out against anti-Semitism before it was too late.
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Rabbi Yossi Friedman speaks to people gathered at a flower memorial near the Bondi Pavilion on Bondi Beach after the shootings in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)
He told Fox News Digital about the moment he told Marles and Wong, “When there is a hate crime here, it will be your responsibility because you have to be a strong voice against anti-Semitism.” However, Sharabi said he didn’t know why he told them so at the time.
He said, “Unfortunately, it happened. And it’s crazy, it’s crazy. Really, I’m very sorry about it.”
A spokesperson for Wong said that he “greatly appreciated his meeting with Eli Sharabi and thanked him for sharing his insights and experiences.”
“Minister Wong has consistently condemned anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic attacks,” the spokesperson said. “In response to the horrific anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Bondi, we are further strengthening laws against those who spread anti-Semitism and abuse online, making sure our education system responds appropriately to anti-Semitism, and lowering the threshold for visa cancellations for people coming to Australia to spread anti-Semitism.”
The spokesperson also expressed Wong’s sympathies to the loved ones of the Bondi Beach shooting victims.
Sharabi told Fox News Digital that the attack on the Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach reminded him of the persecution of European Jews in the 1940s, which left at least 15 people dead and dozens injured.
“Suddenly you feel like it’s the 1940s again and here we are in 2025, 90 years later, all these things are happening again,” Sharabi said.
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A member of the Jewish community reacts as police accompany them to the scene of the shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
Sharabi was released from Hamas captivity on February 8, 2025, 491 days after being taken hostage from Kibbutz Bari during the massacre on October 7, 2023. He did not learn until after he was liberated that his wife, Liane, and his daughters, Noia and Yahel, had been killed when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel.
Since his release, Sharabi has traveled around the world speaking to Jewish communities, world leaders and various audiences about his experience as a hostage, which he described in his book “Hostage”, which has been translated into several languages.
Israeli hostages or Levi, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross by Hamas under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement with Israel in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on February 8, 2025. (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
After being released, he learned that while he was in the hands of terrorists, people all over the world were praying for him and demanding that he and other hostages be released.
He said that while he was in the hospital in the days following his release, he was gradually made aware of the work that people in Israel and around the world had done to advocate for him and the other hostages. It started with revelations about his family and friends, then he realized that people in Israel and around the world had also taken part in the fight for his release.
He soon joined the fighting and began advocating for the release of all hostages, including Alon Ohel, with whom Sharabi had associated while in captivity.
“It was an amazing feeling to see him released. He’s like my son,” Sharabi told Fox News Digital.
Sharabi said that he and Ohel have seen each other many times as free people and that they try to talk every day.
Eli Sharabi, who spent 491 days in Hamas captivity, and whose wife and two daughters were killed by terrorists, speaks at the United Nations. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Sharabi tells Fox News Digital about his life after incarceration. Now a free man for almost a year, he said he appreciates every moment.
He said, “First of all, I am alive. Second, I am free, and I have learned that freedom is priceless.” “Every morning I wake up, I thank you so much for what I have and my freedom, and I’m able to choose whatever I do that day and not have to ask anyone’s permission to eat or drink or speak,” he told Fox News Digital. “I am happy with my life. The memories of my wife, my daughters and my brother will stay with me till my last day.”
Former Hamas hostage Eli Sharabi and Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon hold a family photo of Sharabi showing his wife and daughters, all three of whom were murdered on October 7, 2023. (Perry Bindelglass/Israeli UN Mission)
Sharabi told Fox News Digital that while in prison he had promised himself that he would take his family to London, where they could live a peaceful life. He said he took this decision because of the fear he saw in his daughters’ eyes on October 7.
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While his plans to relocate to London have changed, Sharabi envisions himself living a quiet life and focusing on his treatment after bringing the body of Ran Gwili, the last remaining hostage in Gaza, back to Israel. However, Sharabi said he could not return to Kibbutz Berry and that he would likely seek a fresh start a little further north in central Israel.
“I can’t go back to Berry. This is something I have to solve together with myself and my therapist. How can I go into my own home again? For me, living in Berry is not an option. Around every corner, I can see tragedy,” Bender said. “I need a new place, a fresh restart, for my life, so it can’t be in Berry.”
Fox News Digital contacted Markles’ office for comment.
