Car torched, houses targeted in antisemitic attack
A red Toyota Corolla was set alight in Woollahra in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Photo: 7NEWS/TND
A prominent Jewish area in Sydney has been targeted by another round of antisemitic hate crimes overnight, with a car torched and houses vandalised.
A red Toyota Corolla was set alight about 1am on Wednesday in the quiet eastern suburb of Woollahra, with “Kill Israiel” (sic) scrawled on the wall behind it.
Properties and a footpath were spray-painted with more antisemitic phrases. Media reported seven homes were vandalised, while police reported it was two properties.
Police said an investigation was under way after the attacks on Magney Street, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Officers wanted to speak to two people believed to have been in the vicinity at the time.
They are described as of slim build, between 15-20 years old, wearing face coverings, and dark clothing.
The latest vandalism spree comes amid heightened emotions after the fire-bombing of a Jewish synagogue in Melbourne, which is being considered a terror incident.
Last month, Woollahra was hit with a slew of anti-Israel vandalism which was widely condemned from the Prime Minister down.
A vehicle was torched, while nine other cars and three homes were spray-painted with graffiti such as “f–k Israel”.
The door of a unit complex in nearby Ocean Street was also targeted, as was the Matt Moran-owned restaurant Chiswick.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the latest attack in Woollahra was “shocking”.
“This is not the Sydney we want. These racist attempts to divide our city won’t work,” he posted on X.
“I’ll be speaking to police this morning. They will be found and they will face the full force of the law.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also condemned the incident as an “outrage”.
“I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack,” he wrote in a social media post.
“There is no place for hatred or antisemitism in our community.”
Albanese will be brief by officers from Special Operation Avalite, the federal police operation set up on Tuesday to investigate such attacks on the Jewish community, later on Wednesday.
A man has been arrested over the earlier attacks.
Source: AAP
Albanese heckled at synagogue
Just days ago on Friday, Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue was set alight in a pre-dawn attack when people were inside.
When Albanese visited the synagogue on Tuesday he was met by an angry crowd. As he left, one woman heckled “your words are cheap and late” and “You are late. You let this happen, buddy”.
Another asked if he was “going to the Australian Open”, referring to Albanese playing tennis in the days after the arson.
Rae Anaf, a Jewish community member said the government did not care about Jewish people, labelling his visit as “too little too late”.
“It’s a photo op and nothing more and I think his words are both anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, speak for themselves,” she said.
Another community member, who did not want to be named, criticised the government’s decision to vote for a United Nations resolution to call on Israel to end its presence in Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Albanese spoke to Jewish community leaders at the front of the synagogue.
“This arson attack is an act of terrorism that was fuelled by antisemitism and it was stoked by hatred,” he said.
He urged unity within the wider community and committed his government to provide support to rebuild.
Albanese met Jewish leaders at the fire-bombed Adass Israel Synagogue. Photo: AAP
The visit came a day after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton visited the site. Israel’s ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon went to the synagogue on Tuesday morning.
On Wednesday, Albanese defended his government’s response to the fire-bombing. He said he had been briefed by federal police the morning after, had responded on radio and through a statement, and had spoken to local Jewish community leaders as well as the local MP, Labor’s Josh Burns.
The government had been working behind the scenes in the days following to ensure security funding was available for the community, he said.
“Australians are respectful people. Australians want to live peacefully, side by side, and Australians reject this abhorrent criminal behaviour,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
“This is not a political act. This does not change anything that is occurring on the ground in the Middle East. This is an attack against their fellow Australians.”
Three people are on the run and terrorism investigators from Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police and spy agency ASIO are in charge of the probe.
-with AAP
