Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and police have condemned a “brazen” and “disgusting” slew of anti-Israel vandalism across Sydney on Wednesday night.

A vehicle was torched, while nine others and three homes were spray-painted with graffiti in a spree in a prominent Jewish area of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Detective Acting Superintendent Adam Solah said police were called to the burning vehicle in Wellington Street, Woollahra, shortly after midnight.

It had been spray-painted with anti-Israeli slogans before being set alight. Fire crews were able to extinguish the blaze, but the car was destroyed.

Nine other cars in surrounding streets had been sprayed with words such as “f–k Israel”.

Deeply concerned by reports of appalling antisemitic graffiti in Woollahra and completely unacceptable damage to cars and a local business.
This sort of violence has no place in our country or our community. Antisemitism and racial hate has no place in our society. pic.twitter.com/922M5pDJHR

— Allegra Spender (@spenderallegra) November 20, 2024

The door of a unit complex in nearby Ocean Street was also targeted, as was the Matt Moran-owned restaurant Chiswick.

The area is also home to several consulates.

Solah said the damage bill ran to about $80,000 for the cars, and a further $20,000 to $30,000 for the buildings.

“It is brazen, it’s offensive – the behaviour of the people who did it is disgusting behaviour that is against community standards,” Solah said.

“These are people’s houses they live in, people’s cars – and one of the vehicles that got spray-painted and set fire to, we are told this morning, is completely destroyed. Again, it is the behaviour that is completely unacceptable.”

Locals were seen cleaning their cars with acetone-free nail polish remover on Thursday morning.

“I did lots of googling but this seems to be the only way that’s working,” one resident said.

Earlier, Albanese also condemned the incident as “disturbing” and “deeply troubling”.

“There is no place for antisemitism in Australia,” he said.

“Conflict overseas cannot be made a platform for prejudice at home. I have trust in our law enforcement agencies to deal with this.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the attack was “absolutely deplorable”.

“It is unacceptable, un-Australian, and it will not be tolerated,” he said.

Local federal MP Allegra Spender said her community “won’t be intimidated”.

“Australians care about having a country that is welcoming to everyone of all faiths, backgrounds and sexualities. We will not be intimidated by fringe groups who want to try and divide us,” she said.

In a show of unity, Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns joined forces with Liberal senator Dave Sharma to call out the behaviour.

Burns said since Israel’s war in Gaza began and tensions escalated across the Middle East, Jewish Australians were feeling targeted.

“The sort of incidents that we’re seeing against the Jewish community is escalating and intensifying,” he said.

“Last night would have made a lot of people in the Jewish community right around the country feel extremely unsafe.”

Sharma said he was pleased to learn NSW police had set up a strike force to investigate the incident.

“There are legitimate forms of political protests. There are legitimate forms of freedom of expression. This is not one of those,” he said.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 people and displaced the vast majority of the enclave’s population, according to Palestinian officials.

The war followed Hamas’s attack on Israel, which left 1200 people dead and 250 more taken hostage.

-with AAP