Violent anti-Semitic attacks rattle Australia

Masked men set fire to a synagogue in Melbourne. In Sydney, a synagogue was vandalized with red swastikas spray-painted on the fence, while a daycare center was set on fire in the dead of night with anti-Semitic slurs.

A rash of anti-Semitic attacks in recent weeks has shaken the Jewish community in Australia, home to the largest number of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel. There were no reports of major casualties, but the violence represents a dramatic escalation of tensions from the war in the Middle East, which has fueled Islamophobia in Australia.

Reports of arson and graffiti have threatened a nation that prides itself on being a multicultural and tolerant society, with one-third of its population born overseas.

Now officials say they are investigating international involvement in attacks in Sydney and Melbourne, the country’s two biggest cities, in recent months.

The latest attack took place at a daycare center in Sydney early Tuesday. in Tuesday statementThe head of the Australian Federal Police said the agency was investigating “foreign actors or individuals” paying local residents in Australia to carry out some of these acts. But he did not provide evidence or further details.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterated that investigators were looking into cases where some criminals were motivated by financial incentives rather than ideological motives.

“Right now it is not clear who and where the payments are coming from,” he said.

The prospect of foreign involvement added a new dimension to the growing anxiety in Australia’s small but deep-rooted Jewish community. Police have not said whether, or how, there have been more than a half-dozen attacks since October.

In December, the Australian Federal Police established a task force to investigate attacks and threats against the Jewish community. In New South Wales, where most of the attacks took place, state police in the Greater Sydney area said they had arrested and charged nine people in connection with the crimes.

On Wednesday, authorities announced the latest arrest of a 33-year-old man who was involved in the Jan. 11 arson and graffiti of red swastikas painted on the fence of a synagogue in Sydney’s Newtown neighborhood. .

State Premier Chris Minnes said authorities were cracking down on what he called “pervasive anti-Semitism and violence in our community”. He added that the crimes were “a deliberate attempt to strike terror into the hearts of people living in this situation.”

Julie Nathan, director of research at the Sydney-based Executive Council of Jewish Groups, an umbrella organization for Jewish groups in Australia that has been tracking and documenting reports of anti-Semitism since 1990, said what made the latest attacks unique was their frequency and severity.

“We’ve had terrible graffiti, vandalized cars and buildings, but nothing consistently at this level,” she said. “This is every few days.”

The former home of ACAJ CEO Alex Ryvchin was vandalized last week.

Mr Ryvchin said the house his family had recently moved out of – it was clear it had been specifically targeted. The duplex, he said, was the only part of his former residence that was spray painted red. The other half of the building remained intact. Cars on the street and in front were vandalized with anti-Jewish slurs.

“It was so embarrassing to go there and see the wall I painted, the house we love,” he said.

But Mr. Rivchin said the incident did not shock him, as he felt it was a natural progression from the escalating anti-Semitic language and indiscriminate attacks in the war against Israel on October 7, 2023, led by Hamas. Gaza Strip.

“We wake up every day, and we don’t know what’s going to hit us,” he said. “Not just vandalism and harassment, but firebomb attacks.”

While the rise in violence is alarming, it does not reflect a broader trend, said Andrew Marcus, a professor at Monash University’s Australian Center for Jewish Civilization, who has tracked Australia’s attitudes towards immigrants and each other in a long-running national survey.

“A small part, a minute part, is creating fear and anxiety and headlines,” he said. “It’s a big problem, but you can’t get over the fact that there’s been a big shift in Australian public opinion.