Philanthropist Bill Ackman Donates $100k to Bondi Beach Hero, More than $1 Million Raised in Total

Jewish billionaire investor BillAckman has made a highly visible gesture following the terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, donating $99,999 to a GoFundMe set up for Ahmed Al Ahmed, the man who helped stop the massacre by physically disarming one of the gunmen.

Ackman publicly called for a verified fundraiser shortly after footage circulated showing Al Ahmed, a 43-year-old father of two and fruit shop owner, creeping up behind shooter Sajid Akram and wrestling away his weapon. Al Ahmed was shot in the arm and hand during the encounter and remains hospitalized, undergoing surgery.

Within hours of Ackman’s post, multiple fundraisers appeared online. One GoFundMe campaign, verified and backed by Al Ahmed’s family, quickly gained traction. By Monday afternoon it had raised more than $300,000, with Ackman’s $99,999 donation standing out as the largest single contribution.

The donation was widely shared on social media, where Ackman framed it as a way to support a man who made a split-second decision to run toward gunfire rather than away from it. Others echoed the sentiment, calling Al Ahmed’s actions heroic and crediting him with preventing further loss of life.

In the aftermath of an attack that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration, the fundraiser has become one small point of consensus: whatever else divides the world right now, someone who risks his life to save strangers deserves to be backed, loudly and without hesitation.