By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-12 01:31:15 | Updated at 2025-01-12 04:11:14
2 hours ago
The premier of Australia’s New South Wales state Chris Minns said on Sunday that an attack on a Sydney synagogue on Saturday marked an escalation in antisemitic crime in the state after police said the incident was attempted arson.
Australia has seen a series of antisemitic incidents in the last 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 event, police were notified of antisemitic graffiti on a synagogue in the inner suburb of Newtown early on Saturday. An arson attempt was also made on the synagogue, police later said.
“This is an escalation in antisemitic crime in New South Wales. Police and the government remain very concerned that an accelerant may have been used,” Minns, the leader of Australia’s most populous state, said on Sunday in a televised media conference alongside state police commissioner Karen Webb.
“In the last 24 hours, these matters have now been taken over by counterterrorism command,” Webb said.
A house in Sydney’s east, a hub of the city’s Jewish community, was also daubed with antisemitism graffiti, police said on Saturday, adding they were also probing offensive comments on a street poster in the suburb of Marrickville.
