Why accountability matters more than ever

In December 14, 2025, my family and I were driving home after visiting my brother on Sydney’s North Shore. For a brief moment, we debated whether to attend the Chanukah event at Bondi Beach or another one nearby. In the end, we decided to go home. It had already been a busy weekend, and staying in felt right.

Once we arrived, I felt a strong urge to light the chanukiah for the first night of Chanukah. It wasn’t something we had regularly done before, but as one of our first Chanukahs living in Australia as a family, it suddenly felt important. My youngest son had brought home an “artistic” chanukiah he had made at Pearl Montessori, an inclusive, Jewish daycare in Bondi with Jewish and non-Jewish children and teachers learning together.

Lighting the candles with the kids was unexpectedly special. Something felt different.

Minutes later, my brother called to ask where we were and if we were okay. He told me there had been an attack at Bondi Beach, targeting the Chanukah event.

Instinctively, I slipped into what I can only describe as “post-attack mode” – something I had experienced many times while living in Israel. I sent a flurry of messages to family and friends, scanning news sites and social media for information. A friend who works in security confirmed early reports of a shooting at Bondi and multiple casualties.

While many lives were miraculously spared, including those of close friends, the sense of safety we once took for granted was gone. Our perspective on community, family and vigilance was permanently altered.

As 2025 came to an end, this moment stayed with me and sharpened my thinking about leadership and about what feels increasingly absent in our world.

The years since October 7, 2023, have been confronting on every level. Globally and locally, we have lived with ongoing conflict, rising hatred, and deep social fractures. In moments like these, one truth becomes clear: leadership is not defined by power or position. It is defined by responsibility and accountability, especially when things go wrong.

Two situations, one global and one close to home, have shaped this reflection.

In Israel, the atrocities of October 7, 2023, marked the worst national failure in the country’s history. The war that followed is still ongoing, with immense human cost. Whatever one thinks of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s earlier achievements, leadership after such a catastrophe requires an independent reckoning. The refusal to establish a full, independent commission into the political and security failures of October 7 signals a prioritisation of political survival over accountability – a choice that erodes trust and deepens national trauma.

Australia, too, has faced its own reckoning.

The Bondi Beach attack shattered the Jewish community and sent shockwaves across the country. For many of us, what followed was as troubling as the attack itself. Warning signs around rising antisemitism and radicalisation had been present for years, particularly since October 7, yet the initial national response focused narrowly on security failures rather than confronting the deeper causes.

That is why the Prime Minister’s decision to call a Royal Commission matters.

Following a powerful campaign led by Jewish community leaders, the government acknowledged that this moment demanded more than limited reviews. A Royal Commission offers the opportunity to examine not only what happened on that night, but how antisemitism was allowed to grow, how warning signs were missed, and what must change to prevent this from happening again.

This should not be seen as political capitulation. It should be seen as leadership.

What links Israel’s experience and Australia’s is not ideology, but a familiar pattern in modern leadership – the instinct to defend, deflect or delay when accountability feels threatening.

Too often, leadership defaults to defensiveness instead of reflection, blame instead of responsibility, and self-preservation instead of service.

True leadership looks past the blame game. It asks difficult questions: What failed? What did we miss? What can we learn? And what is genuinely in the best interests of society, even if it comes at personal or political cost?

Australia now has a rare opportunity. If the Royal Commission is conducted with independence and moral clarity, and if its findings are acted upon, Australia can offer a model for how democratic nations confront antisemitism, extremism and social fragmentation.

As we move into 2026, I am increasingly convinced of this: the world does not suffer from a leadership shortage. It suffers from an accountability shortage.

Leadership was never meant to be about clinging to power. It is about being worthy of it, especially when the cost is high.

If Australia gets this moment right it will not only honour the victims of Bondi, it will strengthen the nation itself.

Kevin Nafte is a Sydney-based executive, community leader and father who has lived in Australia, Israel and South America.