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"This is an escalation in anti-Semitic crime in New South Wales. Police and the government remain very concerned that an accelerant may have been used," said New South Wales Premier Chris Minns.
By MICHAEL STARR JANUARY 12, 2025 15:22 Updated: JANUARY 12, 2025 15:23
Firefighters work at the scene of a fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne, Australia, December 6, 2024.
(photo credit: AAP Image/Con Chronis via REUTERS)
Following the suspected attempted Saturday arson of a Sydney synagogue and weekend the vandalization of two synagogues, homes, and cars over the weekend, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said Sunday that there has been an escalation of antisemitic crime in the Australian state.
"This is an escalation in anti-Semitic crime in New South Wales. Police and the government remain very concerned that an accelerant may have been used," Reuters reported Minns as saying in a Sunday televised media conference alongside New South Wales Police Force commissioner Karen Webb.
"In the last 24 hours, these matters have now been taken over by counter-terrorism command."
The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies said in a Sunday statement that the state government had provided additional resources to investigating the Newtown Synagogue vandalization and attempted arson and other recent incidents, which may include the Saturday vandalization of a Queens Park home, five cars, and a trailer, as well as the graffiti on the Southern Synagogue on Friday. Additional funding had been allocated to enhance Jewish community security.
Executive Council of Australian Jews CEO Alex Ryvchin said on X Sunday that Australia was facing a threat to its national security and law, policing, and sentencing was not keeping pace with the level of threat.
The government also told the Board that it would be strengthening laws pertaining to vilification and incitement to violence, a move that has been repeatedly requested by Jewish groups, particularly in the wake of the weekend incidents.Ryvchin and the Board of Deputies said that it would only be through the arrest of the criminals that deterrence would be restored. Minns on Sunday urged the public in their aid in identifying the Allawah and Newtown area vandals, sharing security footage published by NSW police a day before.
'Vile' antisemitic graffiti
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the spate of antisemitic graffiti "vile" and "abhorrent" and noted that his government had made it illegal to use Nazi and hate symbols.
"Australia is a better place than this," Albanese said on social media.
The attempt to set the Newtown Synagogue on fire Saturday was "a failed act of terrorism which risked the safety and property of local residents sleeping in their homes near the synagogue," said the Board.
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The attempted arson of the synagogue came not just a month after the high profile arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.
Sydney has seen a spate of antisemitic vandalism, with Queens Park last Monday seeing a car spray painted with the phrase "F**K the Jews." The slogan was echoed on Saturday when a home was tagged with the words "F**k Jews."
On December 11 a car was set ablaze and two properties spray painted with anti-Israel messages in Sydney, and several vehicles were vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, and another set on fire, in the Woollahra area in mid-November.
A man was charged on Tuesday for driving past two pedestrians outside a place of worship last Saturday and making a shooting gesture. Police didn't say that Jewish worshippers were targeted, but two synagogues are on the short road in the Sydney suburb of St. Ives.
ECAJ issued a report on December 1 detailing that antisemitic incidents had risen in Australia by 316% since October 7 compared to the previous 12-month period.
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