A mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14 targeted a Hanukkah celebration, killing 15 civilians and injuring dozens. Two gunmen, a father and his son, opened fire on the crowd; police killed the older suspect and wounded the younger, who was later charged with terrorism-related offences. The attack, widely condemned as antisemitic terror, has sparked national mourning, vigils and calls for tougher hate-crime and gun laws.
In the above context, a video with two video clips is being widely shared on social media, purportedly showing AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi giving an interview to journalist Palki Sharma.
In the first clip, Palki is heard saying, “The Bondi Beach case in Australia has now taken a turn that connects two continents. Australian authorities say the attackers have been apprehended. They are being identified as an Indian migrant father-son duo. These details are still under investigation. We have an exclusive statement from Asaduddin Owaisi speaking to First Post about this case and on the wider questions it raises about accountability, community targeting and due process. This is his first response as the story unfolds.”
In the second part, Owaisi can be heard saying, “Naveed Akram and his father, Sajid Akram, were residents of Uttar Pradesh. I knew them quite well. Sajid was a decent man, but his son had mental health issues. They had left the country many years ago. I don’t believe Sajid would do such a thing, but his son did have problems."
The video was shared on X with a caption that reads, “BREAKING Owaisi drops a bomb with Palki Sharma, claiming Bondi attackers were Indian NRIs from UP. Narrative cracks, facts emerge, fake anti-Pakistan propaganda falls apart again.”
The claim is false. Two old videos are merged to fabricate the news report.
On a Google reverse image search, we found a video of Palki Sharma that was shared on the YouTube channel of FirstPost. In the video, she is seen wearing the same outfit as the one in the viral video. However, this video is from November 26. This means it is older than the Bondi Beach terror attack, and in the video, she is talking about US President Donald Trump and Taiwan.
However, in the video in which Palki is speaking on terror attack, she is seen wearing a different outfit.
Owaisi’s statement:
A similar search for the Asaduddin Owaisi video led to an interview with ANI in which he is seen wearing the same clothes and sitting in front of the same background. That video is from October 11 and was about a shoe being hurled at the Chief Justice of India.
Through a search, we found Asaduddin Owaisi’s video was of an interview with ANI. In the video, he is seen wearing the same clothes and blue skull cap that he is wearing in the viral video. Since this video is from October 11, it predates the Bondi attack. The interview was about a shoe that was thrown at the Chief Justice of India.
Since in the original videos, no viral statement is present, we can ascertain that the viral video is old and unrelated to the Bondi incident.
Was the audio AI-generated?
We converted the viral video into audio format and checked for AI with the AI-detection tool, Deepfake-O-Meter. We found that three of its detectors suggested that the audio is likely AI-generated, with the confidence scores of 53.6, 100 and 95 per cent, respectively.
Thus, we can confirm that the viral video of Owaisi’s alleged interview is fake and the voices used in the video are manipulated using AI.
What do we know of Bodi attackers?
Two men identified as Sajid Akram (50) and his son Naveed Akram (24) carried out the Bondi Beach attack during a Hanukkah event, deliberately targeting the Jewish community. Sajid was shot dead by police, while Naveed was wounded, taken into custody and charged with multiple terrorism-related offences. The pair reportedly had extremist links and used licensed firearms.
