'We are all devastated': French victim of Bondi Beach attack described as 'bursting with talent'

Dan Elkayam, a 27-year-old French national from the Paris region, was one of the 15 people killed in an attack on a Jewish Hanukkah festival at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday.

Elkayam held a master's degree in computer engineering and had been working in Sydney since December 2024.

The director of his former engineering school in Paris, the École Supérieure de Génie Informatique (ESGI). Kamal Hennou described the former student as "bursting with talent" and someone "who enlightened those around him with kindness and goodness."

"We are all devastated," Hennou told Euronews.

The teacher praised Elkayam's commitment to his studies, adding that "a great career" was opening up for the man who had graduated from the institution in 2022.

"He was a colleague to his fellow students, a promising future was tragically shattered by a cowardly act of antisemitic hatred and violence. His memory will remain honoured at our school," Hennou said.

A minute's silence in his memory was held at ESGI on Monday morning.

A football fan, Elkayam had spent several years travelling the world and worked in Sydney as a network engineer since 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile.

According to media reports, he tried to protect a young girl during the Bondi attack before he was killed.

Elkayam's death was announced on Sunday evening by French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

"It is with immense sadness that we have learned that our compatriot Dan Elkayam was among the victims of the despicable terrorist attack that struck Jewish families gathered on Bondi beach in Sydney on the first day of Hanukkah," Barrot wrote in a post on X.

"This despicable act is yet another example of the terrible suffering that has been inflicted on Jewish families."

French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed his "profound sadness" and said "the full solidarity of the nation" was with the Elkayam's family.

Details begin to emerge

Australian authorities, who classified the shooting as a terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community, have not yet released an official list of victims.

However, a day after one of the deadliest mass shootings in Australia, the identities of several victims emerged through social media posts, news reports, and the official website of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, whose Bondi Beach chapter hosted Sunday’s Hanukkah event.

The Harmony Russian School of Sydney confirmed in a Facebook post that 10-year-old Matilda, "a former student of our school," had died "in hospital due to injuries sustained from a gunshot."

According to Chabad.org, another victim of the mass shooting was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, a 41-year-old assistant rabbi at Chabad-Lubavitch of Bondi. Schlanger was on stage leading the Hanukkah ceremony when the two gunmen opened fire.

The website described him as an "irreplaceable leader of the community" who had become "a vocal advocate for protecting Jewish communities against rising antisemitism."

Earlier this year, Schlanger had written to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to "act firmly" against terrorism and antisemitism, the website said.

Around 1,000 people flocked to Bondi Beach on Sunday for "Chanukah by the Sea," an annual event marking the first night of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights.

The attackers, a father and son, opened fire on the crowd, killing 15 people and wounding at least 40 others, including three children.

One of the gunmen was shot dead by police, while the other remains in critical condition.

Anti-terrorist investigation opened in France

The French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) announced on Monday that it had opened an investigation into the anti-Semitic shooting at Bondi Beach, in parallel with the probe being conducted by Australian authorities.

The Public Prosecutor's Office said that the investigation included "murder in connection with a terrorist undertaking."

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has asked prefects to "reinforce the presence" of law enforcement officers to protect Jewish places of worship across France.

A few days earlier, he had already asked them to "maintain maximum vigilance" and "step up security arrangements for services" and gatherings ahead of the Christian Christmas and Jewish Hanukkah celebrations.

The Minister emphasised "the very high level of the terrorist threat" and "recent events in several places of worship (fires, damage, vandalism)."

At the beginning of December, Nuñez called on prefects to step up security at Christmas markets, which have been the target of deadly attacks in recent years, notably in Germany in 2016 and 2024 and in Strasbourg in 2018.