By The Jerusalem Post (World News) | Created at 2025-01-06 13:50:07 | Updated at 2025-01-07 23:08:07
1 day ago
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said in a statement that the act was a product of incitement, demonization, and a belief that such sentiments were permitted
By MICHAEL STARR JANUARY 6, 2025 15:44
A car in Melbourne, Australia vandalized with "Free Gaza" and "Jews Kill Babies."
(photo credit: ANTI DEFAMATION COMISSION)
A car was vandalized with an antisemitic slogan in a Sydney neighborhood on Monday, according to Australian politicians and Jewish organizations.
"F**k the Jews," was graffitied in black on the vehicle in the Queens Park suburb, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and Australian Jewish Association said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned antisemitism when asked about the incident at a press briefing.
"There is no tolerance for antisemitism in Australia from my Government, nor should there be tolerance from anyone else," said Albanese. "Antisemitism is a scourge. And any event such as this targeting people because of who they are is not the Australian values that I hold dear and the Australian values that are held dear by, overwhelmingly, Australians."
NSW Opposition leader Mark Speakman said on X that Jewish Australians had a right to feel safe in the country.
"Yet another vile act of antisemitism, and it strikes at the heart of the inclusive and multicultural society we cherish in NSW," said Speakman.
The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies said in a statement that it was unacceptable that Jewish Australians had to wake up again to vandalism, in a city in which vehicles had been defaced several times by antisemitic vandals.
"It is intolerable that Australians are having to go to bed fearful that their cars or properties will be defaced overnight with antisemitic hate speech," said NSW Jewish Board. "We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to acts of Jew-Hatred and allow illegal conduct such as this to become normalized."
The board called for laws to be "tightened" to address hate speech and incitement.
A product of incitement
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry said in a statement that the act was a product of incitement, demonization, and a belief that such sentiments were permitted
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"The Australian Jewish community awoke to another despicable hate crime vandalizing property in a suburb with a large Jewish community and multiple Jewish communal facilities. No one just vandalizes a car with a racist slogan," said ECAJ. "It also demonstrates how the racist targeting of Jews impacts wider society."
The Australian Jewish Association blamed the Labor-led government for ongoing antisemitic vandalism and violence, which has been critical of Israel's conduct in the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
"So tell us again how this is not antisemitism and just a protest by those who object to Israel's actions.
A car was set ablaze and two properties were spray painted with anti-Israel messages in Sydney on December 11, Reuters reported. Several cars were vandalized with antisemitic graffiti and one set on fire in the Woollahra area in mid-November.
