MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Vandals torched a car and sprayed graffiti with anti-Israel slogans including an apparently misspelled “Kill Israiel" on Wednesday in a Sydney suburb that is home to Australia's largest Jewish community. Officials condemned the attack as antisemitic.
The incident in the eastern suburb of Woollahra came after federal police this week established a task force to investigate increasing antisemitic crimes across the country. Police 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, New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.
She said there were “antisemitic writings” on the walls of two buildings, two cars including the burnt car, and the sidewalks. She did not detail what words were spraypainted, but the media photographed “Kill Israiel” painted on a garage door.
Last week's arson at a Melbourne synagogue marked an escalation in targeted attacks in Australia since the war began between Israel and the militant Hamas group started over a year ago in the Gaza Strip.
Premier Chris Minns, the Sydney-based leader of the New South Wales state government, 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,” Minns 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.
Police say the torched car had been stolen from elsewhere and used by the suspects to get to Woolahra. Stolen cars are often torched before they are abandoned.
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.
Assistant Police Commissioner Peter McKenna said detectives did not believe the Woollahra crimes were linked.
“We will get to the bottom of this. We will bring people to justice,” McKenna said.
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.
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 the Woollahra attacks last month.
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 said. “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 Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw 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 Albanese has been too slow to call out rising antisemitism for fear of alienating pro-Palestinian groups.
Opposition Sen. 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,” 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.”