A car was set alight and two properties spray painted with anti-Israel messages in Sydney just days after an arson attack at a synagogue in Melbourne which is being investigated as terrorism, Australian authorities said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the latest attack, the second targeting the Jewish community in the Sydney suburb in three weeks, was an "outrage" and he would be briefed on it soon by a new antisemitism task force.
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Torched car and anti-Israel graffiti in suburb of Sydney Australia with large Jewish population
(Photo: AFP/Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
"This is an attack on people because they happen to be Jewish," Albanese told ABC Radio.
"The idea that we take a conflict overseas and bring it here is something that is quite contrary to what Australia was built on ... this is a hate crime, it's as simple as that."
The New South Wales state police said they were searching for two male suspects, aged between 15 and 20, who were seen running from the scene of the attack, wearing face masks, or balaclavas, and dark clothing. The car caught fire in the eastern suburb of Woollahra, an area with a large Jewish population.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the incident would be treated as "a wanton act of vandalism," with offenders facing up to 10 years in jail.
"I don't think there is any point in sugar coating it or trying to downplay it. This isn't just a random act of destruction, this was specifically designed to incite hate," Minns said at a media briefing.
Two men are in custody facing multiple charges after buildings were similarly graffitied with antisemitic slogans and a car was set alight in another part of Woolahra on Nov. 21. They each face prison sentences of up to 10 years if convicted.
Australia has seen a rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
More than 2,000 anti-Jewish incidents were reported by volunteer community groups and Jewish organizations between Oct. 1, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024, versus some 500 incidents in the same period a year ago, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said in a report published this month.
The Australian Jewish Association said on Wednesday it had warned the government several times of possible violent attacks, which it chose to ignore.
"If the Albanese government cannot protect Australians, they must seriously consider stepping down and allow someone else to do so," the Australian Jewish Association said in a post on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also criticized the Australian government, saying the attack on the synagogue could not be separated from the "anti-Israel spirit" of some of its policies, including support of a recent U.N. motion backing a Palestinian state.
The Australian government has defended its record on curbing antisemitism.
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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.”
AUSTRALIA ARSON
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David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, which represents the state’s Jewish community, said the latest Woolahra attack was part of a “sustained campaign of intimidation, harassment and terror against the Jewish community.”
“But the message to the perpetrators and all who wish ill on the Jewish community is that the Jewish community is strong, it is proud, it is united and it will not be cowed by these attempts to intimidate and harass us,” Ossip said.