Premier of Australian state calls synagogue attack an escalation in anti-Semitic crime
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The Southern Sydney Synagogue in Allawah suburb was on Jan 10 spray-painted with anti-Semitic graffiti.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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SYDNEY – The premier of the Australian state of New South Wales, Mr Chris Minns, on Jan 12 said that an attack on a Sydney synagogue on Jan 10 marked an escalation in anti-Semitic crime in the state, after police classified the attack as attempted arson.
Australia has seen a series of anti-Semitic incidents in the past year, including graffiti on buildings and cars in Sydney, as well as an arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne that police ruled as terrorism.
In the latest incident, police were notified of anti-Semitic graffiti on a synagogue in the inner suburb of Newtown early on Jan 11. An arson attempt was also made on the synagogue, police later said.
“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,” Mr Minns, the leader of Australia’s most populous state, said in a Jan 12 televised media conference alongside state police commissioner Karen Webb.
“In the last 24 hours, these matters have now been taken over by counter-terrorism command,” Ms Webb said.
A house in Sydney’s east, a hub of the city’s Jewish community, was daubed with anti-Semitic graffiti, police said on Jan 11, adding that they were also probing offensive comments on a street poster in the suburb of Marrickville.
On Jan 10, a special police task force was set up to investigate an attack on the Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah
Mr David Ossip, president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said on Jan 12 he welcomed extra resources promised by the government to probe the recent incidents.
“The New South Wales government has also provided us with additional funding to enhance Jewish communal security,” Mr Ossip added in a statement.
“(There is) no place in Australia, our tolerant multicultural community, for this sort of criminal activity,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Jan 10, referring to the Southern Sydney Synagogue incident.
Australia has seen an increase in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and Israel launched its war on Gaza. Some Jewish organisations have said the government has not taken sufficient action in response. REUTERS
