WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Police "stood down" for 20 minutes during the Bondi Beach terror attack.
OUR VERDICT
False. The attack lasted around six minutes.
AAP FACTCHECK - Police did not stand down for 20 minutes, allowing two gunmen to kill 15 people at Bondi, despite claims spreading across social media.
Footage of the attack shows NSW police officers incapacitated the two gunmen around six minutes after the attack started.
During that time, two police officers were also shot and wounded at the scene.
Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed opened fire on a Jewish event at a beachside park, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, on December 14, 2025.
Authorities say the pair were inspired by an "Islamic State" ideology.
Social media users have used claims that police stood down as evidence to suggest the attack was a "false flag" event.
A false flag is a deceptive act intended to make it appear that someone other than the true perpetrator is responsible.
Among the claims made are that Israel is responsible, or even the state or federal governments, in a bid to impose stricter gun controls.
One Facebook post features a video first posted on YouTube that falsely claims police waited before intervening to stop the gunmen.
"Eyewitnesses said that police showed up and they stood down for about 20 minutes," the man in the video says (timestamp six minutes, 40 seconds).
"They allowed the shooter to continue, even though there's a police station right next to Bondi Beach.
"So there was tonnes of police there, but they stood around essentially and [were] watching this for about 20 minutes and did nothing."
Other posts on Facebook and YouTube (timestamp one minute 30 seconds) have similarly claimed that it took police 20 minutes to respond.
However, the claims are false. Video evidence shows the shootings didn't last for 20 minutes.
A 10-minute video posted across social media depicts most of the attack unfolding.
Unpublished footage places the start of the 10-minute clip about 20 seconds after the first shots were fired, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Police sirens can be heard five seconds into the 10-minute video, while later, one gunman can be seen ducking in response to audible police fire (timestamp 3:43).
Sajid Akram is then shot (4:37) and falls to the ground.
Naveed Akram can then be seen ducking repeatedly while exchanging fire with police before being shot (5:49) and collapsing.
At this point the shooting ceases and police officers run onto the bridge (7:10) to arrest the younger Akram.
This shows the shooting lasted just over six minutes.
The Australian Financial Review analysis concludes it lasted six minutes and 10 seconds and involved at least five police officers.
Despite the video evidence, some witnesses claimed the shooting lasted for much longer.
An eyewitness quoted by the New York Post in a December 14 report said that police didn't return fire on the gunmen for 20 minutes and that they "froze".
But that witness did not say police stood down for 20 minutes, as some posts claim.
Other eyewitnesses also claimed to have experienced much longer timeframes, which was reported by multiple media outlets.
It is a well-known phenomenon that those involved in traumatic events experience distorted time perception, especially during near-death experiences.
A 2024 study found that even exposing people to a threat using virtual reality affected their perception of time.
Those who had the greatest emotional reaction to a simulated fall from a bridge perceived time to pass more slowly.
Other studies have found people's perception of time slows down when exposed to threatening or negative images, sounds and video, or when a phobia is triggered.
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