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Childcare centre set on fire in antisemitic attack

Source: AAP

A childcare centre has turned into a crime scene as police investigate the latest suspected antisemitic attack in Sydney.

The childcare centre in Maroubra, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was set on fire just before 1am on Tuesday (AEDT) and was badly damaged.

Police say antisemitic graffiti was also spray-painted on the outside wall of the centre on Storey Street.

“Fire and Rescue NSW attended and found the ground floor well alight,” NSW Police said.

“The blaze was extinguished; however, the building sustained extensive damage.

“The building was unoccupied at the time and there were no reports of injuries.”

The childcare centre is only a short distance from a synagogue and Jewish school in the same suburb.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the owner of the childcare centre — Only About Children — said it had no direct connections to the Jewish community.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack.

“I utterly condemn this evil hate crime,” he said on Tuesday.

“My government will support NSW Police to hunt down the offenders and ensure they face the full force of the law through Operation Avalite.”

Police have established a crime scene and have appealed to anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.

Officers from the Eastern Beaches Police Area Command are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Dover Heights attack

Source: AAP

On Friday, two cars were torched and defaced with anti-Jewish slogans and red paint was splashed on a house in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Residents said they believed the Dover Heights attack was a case of mistaken identity as the home was previously owned by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin.

Locals said the current residents were not Jewish.

It followed an arson and graffiti attack on a synagogue in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown on January 11.

Earlier this month, a white Volkswagen parked in Queens Park, in Sydney’s east, was painted with “F— the Jews”.

The car’s owner, Stuart Veron, who is not Jewish, described the graffiti as “madness” and “disgusting”.

In December, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne’s south-east was firebombed, prompting federal police to set up a special operation investigating threats towards the Jewish community and parliamentarians.

Also in December, other antisemitic slogans were sprayed on buildings and footpaths in nearby Woollahra, as well as “cancel Islam” on an advertising board in the western Sydney suburb of Sefton.

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