7 OCT 2026Lindt Café Siege
7 OCT 2026 
Palestinian President at the UN – Genocide allegations
On 26 September 2014, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the UN General Assembly in New York about a month after the 50-day Gaza war ended. His published statement says: "In this year, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Israel has chosen to make it a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people."
The statement also says: "The difference today is that the scale of this genocidal crime is larger, and that the list of martyrs, especially children, is longer". It calls the war "a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world" and says: "we will not forget and we will not forgive, and we will not allow war criminals to escape punishment." The BBC reported that the conflict "left about 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead", and that the Israeli delegation was not in the hall during the speech.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the speech "included offensive characterisations that were deeply disappointing" (BBC). Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called it a "speech of incitement filled with lies" and accused Abbas of "diplomatic terrorism" (BBC).
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7 OCT 2026 Khaled Sharrouf: severed-head photos, Raqqa
On 11 August 2014 News Corp published a photo that reportedly came from the Twitter feed of Khaled Sharrouf, an Australian the ABC said "calls himself an Islamic State fighter". The ABC said it shows "a young boy, reported to be Sharrouf's seven-year-old son, holding the severed head of what is said to be a Syrian government soldier", and was posted with the caption "That's my boy". The BBC said the image was taken in Raqqa (it spells it "Raqa"), northern Syria.
Sharrouf had been jailed in 2009 for four years for being part of a cell planning attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. After his release he was banned from leaving the country but left on his brother's passport (BBC). Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the photo showed "just how barbaric this particular entity is" (BBC). Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan called it "an act of a lunatic" (ABC).
In a December 2017 report from Raqqa, the ABC described Naim Square, which IS used for public executions, and wrote: "It's where Australia's most notorious jihadist, Khaled Sharrouf photographed himself and his son holding up severed heads like gory trophies." In January 2026 the ABC described the square as "a place once dubbed the 'Roundabout of Hell'".
In February 2017 the ABC reported, citing national security sources, that Sharrouf had become "the first dual national to be stripped of their citizenship" under the federal anti-terror laws. A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that a person had lost citizenship but would not name them.
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7 OCT 2026 Mohamed Elomar – Photo Release
In late July 2014, a Twitter account purporting to belong to Khaled Sharrouf posted photos of fellow Sydney man Mohamed Elomar holding the severed heads of Syrian government soldiers. The ABC reported: "In one photo Elomar holds up two severed heads. In another, he presents one head to the camera, with another three on the floor beside him." It said the heads belonged to soldiers killed in fighting in Raqqa.
The ABC's 7.30 program reported that NSW Police had issued warrants for the immediate arrest of Sharrouf and Elomar on terrorism offences if they returned to Australia. (An editor's note says earlier versions wrongly said the AFP issued the warrants.) AFP counter-terrorism head Neil Gaughan said: "As soon as they set foot on Australian soil they will be taken into custody."
Attorney-General George Brandis said the pair "may have committed war crimes" (SBS, 30 Jul 2014). SBS also reported that a lawyer for the Elomar family, Zali Burrows, told Channel Seven she believed the photos were doctored.
In June 2015 the SMH reported, citing well-placed sources, "a 'high degree of certainty'" that Elomar had been killed in an air strike on a convoy in al-Raqqa province. The BBC reported Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as saying the government was close to verifying his death. It also reported that Sharrouf's daughter had married Elomar when she was 13.
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7 OCT 2026 Hervé Gourdel beheaded
Hervé Gourdel, 55, a mountain guide from Nice, France, was kidnapped in Algeria's Kabylie region by the Algerian group Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), which had pledged allegiance to Islamic State on 14 September 2014. The group demanded that France halt its air strikes on IS in Iraq. When the deadline passed it killed him and posted a video titled "Message of blood for the French government" (BBC).
President François Hollande, speaking at the United Nations in New York, condemned the killing as a "cruel and cowardly" act and said French air strikes would continue (BBC). In his official statement the Élysée quotes him: "Notre compatriote Hervé GOURDEL a été assassiné par un groupe terroriste, lâchement, cruellement." ("Our compatriot Hervé Gourdel was murdered by a terrorist group, in a cowardly and cruel way.") He also said: "Hervé GOURDEL est mort parce qu'il était français" ("Hervé Gourdel died because he was French").
On 15 January 2015 the BBC reported that Gourdel's body had been found near Akbil, south-east of Algiers. Army sources said it was found using information from one of two men arrested over the case. The BBC said Abdelmalek Gouri, who claimed responsibility for the killing, had been killed in an Algerian army attack in December 2014.
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7 OCT 2026 Terror threat level raised to High
On 12 September 2014 the Australian Government announced that the National Terrorism Public Alert level, as determined by ASIO, had been raised from Medium to High. The Prime Minister’s Office said the advice was based not on knowledge of a specific attack plan, but on a body of evidence pointing to an increased likelihood of a terrorist attack in Australia.
Security and intelligence agencies were concerned about the growing number of Australians working with, connected to, or inspired by groups including ISIL, Jabhat al-Nusrah and al-Qaeda. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the rise did not mean an attack was imminent and that there was no specific intelligence of particular plots, but that people had the intent and capability to mount attacks in Australia.
State and territory governments were notified, and federal and state agencies were to work together to counter the threat. The Government also pointed to more than $630 million to boost counter-terrorism capacity and to planned updates to counter-terrorism legislation. The Guardian reported it was the first such change in 11 years under the four-level system introduced in 2003, in which High means an attack is likely.
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7 OCT 2026 Operation Appleby – largest counter-terror raids
On 18 September 2014, days after the threat level was raised to High, more than 800 officers from NSW Police, the AFP and ASIO took part in Operation Appleby raids across western and north-western Sydney, with further searches in Brisbane’s south. Fifteen people were detained in Sydney. Authorities said the Sydney group had planned violent acts against members of the public, including random killings linked to Islamic State direction from overseas.
Omarjan Azari was charged over a 15 September 2014 telephone conversation with Australian Islamic State figure Mohammad Ali Baryalei about planning domestic killings, and over attempting to provide funds to Islamic State. In March 2019 the NSW Supreme Court sentenced Azari to 18 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 13 years and 6 months after a jury convicted him of doing an act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act, together with the funding offence.
In September 2022 the AFP said a Sydney man was the final person convicted of a terrorism offence under Operation Appleby, bringing the investigation’s terrorism convictions to 16 over eight years. The AFP described the investigation as covering preparation for domestic terrorist acts, foreign incursions into Syria and Iraq, and funding of terrorist organisations.
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7 OCT 2026 Numan Haider stabs two officers, Endeavour Hills
On 23 September 2014, 18-year-old Numan Haider stabbed a Victoria Police officer and an AFP officer outside Endeavour Hills police station in Melbourne’s south-east. The officers had arranged to meet him after a daytime search of his family’s Narre Warren home. Moments after shaking hands with them, Haider produced a knife and attacked. The Victoria Police officer then shot Haider in the head, killing him instantly.
Victorian Coroner John Olle found there was no time or opportunity for the officers to use a lower level of force, and that Haider’s death was not preventable other than at the expense of the AFP officer’s life. The Guardian reported no adverse findings against ASIO, Victoria Police or the AFP. Olle found Haider had become radicalised in the months before the attack, and his passport application had been rejected over radicalisation concerns.
The meeting took place days after Islamic State issued a fatwa calling on supporters to kill Australians, and after the widely publicised Operation Appleby raids. ABC reported that Haider stabbed the Victoria Police officer in the arm and the AFP officer in the face and shoulder before the Victoria Police officer fired. Coroner Olle found Haider accessed material showing executions and Islamic State instructions on how to kill and maim.
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7 OCT 2026 Foreign Fighters Act passed
The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Act 2014 (Act No. 116 of 2014) amended 22 Acts to respond to Australians engaging in, and returning from, conflicts in foreign states. Parliament’s bill summary says it provided additional powers for security agencies, strengthened border security measures, allowed cancellation of welfare payments for persons involved in terrorism, and implemented recommendations from the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor and the COAG Review of Counter-Terrorism Legislation. It also repealed the Crimes (Foreign Incursions and Recruitment) Act 1978.
The bill was introduced in the Senate on 24 September 2014, shortly after the threat-level rise and Operation Appleby. It finally passed both Houses on 30 October 2014 and received Royal Assent on 3 November 2014. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee reported on 17 October 2014.
The Act's authoritative text is on the Federal Register of Legislation. It was a central legislative response to the foreign-fighter threat behind the September 2014 rise to High.
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7 OCT 2026 Islamic State declares its ‘caliphate’
On 29 June 2014 the group then known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) announced in an audio recording that it was establishing a caliphate on territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria. It proclaimed its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and “leader for Muslims everywhere”, and said it would henceforth be known as “the Islamic State”.
The BBC reported that the group said the state would extend from Aleppo in northern Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq, and demanded that Muslims pledge allegiance and “reject democracy and other garbage from the West”. Spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani framed the declaration as Muslims shaking off “the dust of humiliation and disgrace”.
Later Australian measures in 2014, including the High threat level, Operation Appleby and the Foreign Fighters Act, are documented separately under those events.
7 OCT 2026 
James Foley beheaded
In August 2014 Islamic State released a video titled “A Message to America” purporting to show the beheading of American journalist James Foley, 40, who had been missing since being kidnapped in Syria in November 2012. Foley’s family confirmed his death. The video showed Foley in an orange jumpsuit beside a masked militant, who spoke with a British accent and linked the killing to US air strikes in Iraq. Another captive, Steven Sotloff, was shown with a warning that his fate depended on US decisions.
ABC News reported Foley’s family statement that he “gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.” ABC also reported Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott describing the beheading as “evil … as near to pure evil as we are ever likely to see” and as a sign there could be “no compromise whatsoever with the murderous terrorists” of Islamic State.
The BBC reported that UK and US officials reacted to the video with horror, pending confirmation that it was genuine. US officials later treated it as authentic.
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7 OCT 2026 Peshawar school massacre
On 16 December 2014 Pakistani Taliban militants attacked the Army Public School in Peshawar. The Pakistani military said 141 people were killed, including 132 children and nine staff. All seven attackers, who wore suicide vests, were killed. The assault lasted many hours, and survivors described gunmen going from classroom to classroom.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan said the attack was retaliation for Pakistani military operations, including the Zarb-e-Azb offensive in North Waziristan. The BBC and ABC reported international condemnation, including from Malala Yousafzai, the UN Secretary-General and US President Barack Obama.
ABC reported Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott saying it was “impossible to put into words the mixture of grief and fury that must be felt by people in Pakistan and around the world at this latest terrorist atrocity.”
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7 OCT 2026 Shady Alsuleiman sermon: “Where are the Muslims for Gaza”
A sermon by Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, president of the Australian National Imams Council, published on YouTube under the title "Where are the Muslims for Gaza - #FreePalestine - 2014".
The date and place it was given are not known. The earliest copy found on YouTube was uploaded on 13 July 2014 by the channel Islamic Media, during the 2014 Gaza war. The copy shown here was uploaded on 20 July 2014 (Sydney time) by the channel "Reminders From Shady Al Suleiman", which states that it is not his own channel.
Introduction
On 15 December 2014, Man Haron Monis entered the Lindt Chocolate Café in Martin Place, Sydney, and took 18 people hostage.
Monis was armed with a sawn-off shotgun and claimed there were bombs inside the café and elsewhere in Sydney. He forced hostages to display a black Islamic flag in the café window, claimed to be acting in support of Islamic State, and demanded an Islamic State flag and contact with Prime Minister Tony Abbott. No explosives were found.
Monis had been known to police and intelligence agencies for years. He had been prosecuted for sending offensive letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. At the time of the siege he was on bail, facing an accessory-to-murder charge and 43 sexual and indecent assault charges. Authorities had assessed him as increasingly extreme, but had not identified evidence that he was planning a terrorist attack.
The siege lasted about 16 and a half hours, during which twelve hostages escaped. Shortly after 2:00am on 16 December, Monis fired a shot inside the café. In the ten minutes that followed, before police decided to go in, he shot café manager Tori Johnson in the back of the head at close range. The coroner found Johnson "was executed in the meantime before the decision to enter the cafe was made".
Police then stormed the café and shot Monis dead. Barrister Katrina Dawson was killed by fragments from a deflected police bullet.
Government Response
NSW Police secured Martin Place, evacuated nearby buildings and treated the incident as a potential terrorist attack. Because Monis claimed to be acting for Islamic State and said bombs had been placed elsewhere in Sydney, authorities had to consider whether the siege was part of a wider coordinated attack.
Police adopted a contain-and-negotiate strategy, intended to end the siege peacefully. Negotiators were never able to establish direct communication with Monis, and communicated largely through hostages.
After Monis fired a shot shortly after 2:00am, police waited about ten minutes before entering the café. During that time Monis murdered Tori Johnson.
State Coroner Michael Barnes later found: "The 10 minutes that lapsed without decisive action by police was too long." He made 45 recommendations. He criticised aspects of the negotiation strategy, the failure to keep reassessing the contain-and-negotiate approach, and the reliance placed on advice from a single consultant psychiatrist.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and NSW Premier Mike Baird announced a joint Commonwealth–NSW review. It examined Monis' dealings with government agencies, intelligence assessments, bail decisions, firearms regulation and the adequacy of counter-terrorism arrangements. Its recommendations included improvements to information sharing, bail procedures and the way terrorism or violent extremism is considered in serious criminal matters.
Summary
The Lindt Café siege ended on the morning of 16 December 2014. Of the 18 people taken hostage, twelve escaped. Tori Johnson was murdered by Man Haron Monis, and Katrina Dawson was killed by fragments from a deflected police bullet during the police assault. Monis was shot and killed by police.
The coronial inquest examined Monis' history, the decisions that kept him on bail, police command arrangements and the handling of the siege. Coroner Michael Barnes found the initial contain-and-negotiate strategy was reasonable, but that police did not adequately reassess it as circumstances changed, and that the delay after Monis fired a shot was too long.
The inquest identified failures and missed opportunities before and during the siege, but did not find that police or prosecutors were responsible for his actions. The Coroner found that Man Haron Monis alone bore responsibility for the siege and the deaths that followed.
You be the judge.
