A car was torched and anti-Israel slogans were painted on the wall of a house in what authorities called the latest “antisemitic” attack on a Sydney suburb that is home to Australia‘s largest Jewish community.
New South Wales police said they were looking for two male suspects believed to be aged between 15 and 20 who were “disguised” and were spotted running from the scene of the incident in the eastern suburb of Woollahra.
The vandals burned the car in which they were driving and spread graffiti over the burned car, another vehicle and buildings, the police said.
“So it is the graffiti itself, the antisemitic remarks that they have spray-painted on those houses and footpath that we are investigating,” assistant commissioner of police Peter McKenna told reporters.
Premier Chris Minns described the attack as an attempt to “intimidate the Jewish community in Sydney”.
“This was a targeted attack in Sydney’s eastern suburbs … directly after the burning down of a synagogue,” he told reporters. “This was a deliberate attack … designed to put fear into the hearts of the people who live in Sydney’s east,” he added.
The incident came after federal police this week established a task force to investigate increasing antisemitic crimes across the country.
Last week’s arson at a Melbourne synagogue marked an escalation in targeted attacks in Australia since Israel began its retaliatory war against the Hamas in Gaza Strip. Israel has since extended its attacks on Lebanon and launched hundreds of missiles in Syria.
Cars and buildings have previously been vandalized and torched across Australia in protests inspired by the war. This week, authorities declared the attack on Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue a terrorist attack, which increases the resources and information available to investigators.
Also this week, federal police announced Special Operation Avalite to target those behind antisemitic attacks around the country – including the arson at the Melbourne synagogue, the attack on Jewish lawmaker Josh Burns’ Melbourne office in June, and an attack last month on a car in Woollahra.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese condemned the Woollahra attack on Wednesday as an “outrage” and a “hate crime.”
“It is another antisemitic attack and all Australians must condemn it,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “I stand with the Jewish community and unequivocally condemn this attack. There’s no place for antisemitism in this country or anywhere else for that matter.”
He said he had been briefed by the police commissioner on the attack and would soon be briefed by Special Operation Avalite officials, and rejected allegations the attack could be a criticism of Israel rather than Jews.
“This isn’t an attack on a government, this is an attack on people because they happen to be Jewish,” Albanese said. “The idea that we take a conflict overseas and bring it here is something that is quite contrary to what Australia was built on.”
Government opponents argue that Mr Albanese has been too slow to call out rising antisemitism for fear of alienating pro-Palestinian groups.
Opposition Senator Jane Hume said she knew a Jewish couple who were considering moving from Australia to Israel because they would feel safer there, despite the raging Mideast wars.
“Because the government has prevaricated, because it has used weasel words and wishy-washy language, it does seem that those that are committing these offenses have been emboldened if not enabled by a government that has failed to take leadership,” Ms Hume said.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish global human rights organization, issued a travel warning on Tuesday, urging Jews to “exercise extreme caution” in Australia as “a result of the failure of Australian authorities to stand up against persistent demonization, harassment and violence against Jews and Jewish institutions in Australia.”
Additional reporting by agencies
