Australia state premier calls synagogue attack an escalation in anti-Semitic crime

SYDNEY (Reuters) – 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 anti-Semitic crime in the state, after police said the attack was attempted arson.

Australia has seen a series of anti-Semitic 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 incident, police were notified of anti-Semitic 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 anti-Semitic crime in New South Wales. Police and the government remain very concerned that an accelerate 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 counter-terrorism command,” Webb said.

A house in Sydney’s east, a hub of the city’s Jewish community, was also daubed with anti-Semitic graffiti, police said on Saturday, adding they were also probing offensive comments on a street poster in the suburb of Marrickville.

On Friday, a special police task force was set up to investigate an attack on the Southern Sydney Synagogue in the suburb of Allawah in the early hours of Friday morning.

“(There is) no place in Australia, our tolerant multicultural community, for this sort of criminal activity,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday, 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.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by David Gregorio)

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